Turning Over a New Leaf
by Dwellin
Summary: Can Karin be reclaimed from walking a dark path she's known with Orochimaru and Sasuke? Naruto is bound and determined she can, with help from friends. Action, humor, drama, romance. Couples: KarinxKakashi, InoxSai, SakuraxShikamaru
1. Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION: I had a hard time choosing the genre for this story. I see it as a story that has humor, comfort, adventure/action, and reclamation with romantic overtones woven throughout.

Although I have written fanfics before, this is my first foray into the Naruto fandom. This fic has been sitting on the back burner only a couple of chapters away from being done while I finished my Bleach fic. I had to backtrack and do editing the more facts I learned and research I did. For the most part, I tried to keep it close to canon although I bounce back and forth between anime and manga. For true believers, you'll easy spot when I didn't. Hopefully, that won't ruin the story for you.

Strangely enough, I wouldn't have tried this at all but it was driving me crazy how the character of Karin was so "Sasuke-besotted". I set out to do something about that and decided to hijack the character during the time she was in Konoha's prison and put her in an adventure and see where it went.

I originally intended this to be a 2-parter, but we'll see how part one is received.

Hope you enjoy!

All things **Naruto** belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I just collect with the action figures and write fanfic.

~ _Dwellin_

* * *

 **INTRODUCTION**

* * *

"Did you see Sakura?! Did you see the way he looked at me?" Ino sighed.

Sakura could only describe the look on Ino's face as besotted and smitten. Sakura wanted to sigh too, but for different reasons. _Here we go again,_ she thought while shooting a sour glance over at Ino from the corner of her eye. Surely her friend wasn't going to fall yet again for some new visiting dignitary?! If she did, this would break her old records of being able to fall in a constipated state of infatuation in no time flat.

What good timing, not only did she have a headache was slowly building but now this. The two didn't necessarily mean there was a connection but on the other hand, who knew?

Ino was so susceptible to anyone new (to Konoha), handsome, and it certainly didn't hurt if they were rich and powerful, but _this_ guy? Sakura did allow herself a sigh of exasperation while reaching up to tuck a stray pink lock behind her headband.

From the beaming expression on Ino's face, one could almost feel the sparkles and dancing hearts floating above her head. Sakura rolled her own green eyes at seeing how her friend's eyes remained locked onto the back of the most powerful leader outside of their own Hokage as he walked into Tsunade's office to confer with her.

Sakura also knew Ino wasn't looking for agreement as her belief was powerful enough to fuel a thousand romance novels but Sakura felt obliged to at least try to bring some sanity to the moment.

"If you mean the way the Kazekage nodded impassively to his _two_ escorts while they _both_ showed him around the hospital, then yes, I did notice that."

Ino broke from her enamored mood which was easy now that the door had swung shut denying her any further view of her new crush. "Obviously you weren't paying attention, Sakura! There was an underlying sexual current, there was subtext, there was so much being spoken on a nonverbal level that only the language of the heart could pick up."

"Uh huh. Like, 'leave me alone crazy lady'?"

"Jealousy does not become you Sakura."

"Jealous?!" Sakura exclaimed, incredulous. This was over the top, even for Ino. She gestured an arm at the closed door. "We are nonentities to him; just a couple of Leaf kunoichi's showing him around. At best he knows us as Naruto's friends. All we have been doing is giving him the grand tour so he can bring changes and updates to Sand's own facilities. He hardly said a word to us; in fact, he hardly said a word at all to anyone!"

Was it possible for someone to spew forth nearly tangible streams of glitter and sparkle? If so, Sakura was knee-deep in it… or rather, in danger of being drowned in the rising tide of Ino's delusional crush. Sakura felt she could almost see it emanating off her friend in perceptible flakes. It was too much to deal with and she was tired, not to mention the growing tension in her temples. It had been a long, busy day and she refused to battle against Ino's new and powerful delusion.

She turned and nearly collided into someone's standard green flak jacket. Glancing up, she saw it was Shikamaru.

Sakura was mildly surprised to find him looking down at her and… was that a grin? Astonished, her eyes focused on his lips, Shikamaru rarely expressed emotions other than annoyance or his most common expression they were oh so familiar with: boredom. What startled her more was the fact he had placed a steadying hand under her elbow, not that she needed it but it was thoughtful of him.

"Oh, hi Shikamaru. You come for Ino?" She took a step out of his way and gestured a gloved hand toward Ino who was still watching the Hokage's door with the intensity of a stalking panther. "Good luck grounding her, she's practically floating today." She knew he would know what she meant by that. _Everyone_ who knew Ino knew what was meant by that.

His dark eyes flicked over and then back to Sakura as if he wasn't much concerned with his teammate. And yes, he knew this state of hers well and any logic inserted into her crush-sick swooning would be a waste of time.

"No, I was summoned by the Hokage but it was nice to have you bump into me," he said in a manner-of-fact voice. He nodded and moved to the office and knocked. He entered upon hearing a muffled voice giving him permission to enter.

Sakura watched for a moment until he disappeared while briefly pondering his odd response but shrugged it off. Maybe she had just imagined the grin or it had been a trick of the light. The Nara prodigy was enigmatic at the best of times.

Turning her attention back to her friend she asked, "Ino, I'm going now; you coming?"

"No, I'm going to stay and finish some paperwork. Where you off to?"

"I'm going to go check on the new prisoner we captured at the bridge before heading home. "

"Oh, how's that going?" Ino asked but Sakura could tell her attention was elsewhere. "Well, have fun. Have to get going on the… uhm…"

"Paperwork?" The pink-haired med-nin supplied with a smile.

"Yeah, that's it." The blond spun on her heel, her ponytail whipped out in an arc behind her.

Right. Paperwork. Sakura shook her head and walked off.

* * *

Ino lingered around the receptionist desk until his patience finally broke and with a grim look pointed his pen in the direction of the stairs at the end of the hallway that led down went to the outside. It wasn't a hint.

Ino cast a quick look at the Hokage's door, hoping that it would open just at that opportune time. When it didn't she knew it was time to give up… for today that is.

With a frown the blond girl turned and started off down the hall but the frown lifted within several paces for the blond was concocting schemes in her head about how she could be _on the spot_ wherever the Sand Kazekage was scheduled to be next. She tapped a finger against her chin, now, if she could only get her hands on said schedule.

As soon as she stepped out into the bright afternoon sun after the relative darkness of the building, Ino squinted and lifted a hand to shade her eyes against the harsh sunlight. That's when she heard the crunch of someone's shoes fall in step with hers. Indifferently she shot a quick look over and then did a double take. It was Sai.

Any other time Ino might have felt like flirting; Sai was handsome in a Sasuke-kind-of-way but with a better personality and seemed like a nice guy to spend time with, and again, it couldn't be emphasized enough, he was certainly easy on the eyes. Today however, she was on a quest for a much larger prize. Besides, there were times when Sai didn't seem like the sharpest kunai in the pouch. Sakura kept telling her that the smile he presented to the world was not that of someone who was simple, underneath it he was quite clever. Still, Ino observed, she couldn't help but thing that he just came across as a rather dim in his social interactions.

"Well hello Sai, what are you up to?" She asked pleasantly, giving him a cheerful enough welcome and making sure to put interest in her voice and face, which wasn't hard, it was nearly second nature for her now.

"Walking with you."

Predictable Sai. "Yes, yes, I can see that, I mean, are you back from a mission, going on one, doing errands, you know, that sort of thing.

"Earlier I was drawing, but since the Kazekage was in town and I thought I would get a look at him, I hear from Naruto he is a pretty powerful shinobi and a good leader."

"Yes, he is." Was that just a little too much gush in her voice? Even she could hear it. Clearing her throat she went for cute, perky, and casual. I can understand wanting to see him, he's the most powerful ninja in Sand by far." Although her interest in the auburn-haired young leader was on a whole different level than was Sai's.

"What are you doing today?"

"Uh…Oh…" That was a good question, what was she going to do now that she had been effectively kicked off the premises?

She looked at Sai, who actually seemed to be interested in what she was going to answer. Well wasn't that sweet of him. Too bad she wasn't as interested in him as she was with a certain Kage.

"Sakura and I were the tour guides to show the Kazekage around our medical facilities. The Sand Village wants to update their operations and management of supplies and such so thought ours would make a good template."

Sai nodded and then gave that smile of his that she couldn't resist smiling back.

"You look exceedingly beautiful today."

Ino blushed; he certainly was good for the ego. "Ah, well thank you," she replied while demurely pushing back a lock of hair.

"May I walk you home?"

"Uh," Why was it he kept throwing her off her game just a bit with his unexpected questions? "I, uh, wasn't going home…" Indeed, she had no intentions of going home, the Yamanaka kunoichi had come to the decision to sneak in the back door of the building, so to speak and ever so conveniently be right there on hand when the Kages were done with their meeting.

Unexpectedly, Sai, still smiling that familiar grin of his, grasped her elbow and began leading her away from her primary objective. What to do, what to do? And he was walking rather quickly as well. Ino didn't want to appear rude, so gave a light laugh, if rather forced and allowed him to lead her off.

What Ino didn't know was that Sai was quite aware of her intentions but had other ideas in mind. Ino could be rude, if it was in her best interests, but since she was in a rather good mood today he very gently but firmly guided her in the direction of the destination he had in mind. This course of action was unlike him, but he had read a book that made it very clear that women liked a decisive, take-charge man. He still wondered what the bookstore owner had meant when she had classified it as a "bodice-ripper" and then after the purchase had chuckled as he had left. Some things books just didn't explain.

That was how a few hours later, Ino finally made her way home from the coffee shop after spending it with a thoroughly entertained Sai. How could she leave when the poor boy was obviously hanging onto every word she had to say? Well, she could understand, but now that she was back in her room she could plot without interruption. The Sand Kage was in love with her, she was sure of it she just had to make him aware of the fact.

* * *

Sakura had been feeling a tension headache starting to build for a bit now, but needed just a moment to herself in a relatively quiet and dark place to concentrate and release some healing chakra and open up some blood vessels while relaxing certain constricting muscles. That's why a few minutes later she found a tea shop and ordered a mild, relaxing tea that would help soothe her nerves.

After soaking in the calm and quiet since she was the only customer there at that time of day, Sakura could feel her shoulders relaxing and the tension flowing away. Finally the headache was gone and she sagged back into her chair with relief.

It was then she heard the bell jangle over the door but paid it no mind, no mind that is until a shadow blocked the light coming in from the wide front window pane. Looking up she found Shikamaru standing next to her table with his hands in his pockets standing in his customary slight slouch.

"This seat taken?"

"Er, no it isn't." She looked around him to see if Choji was with him, although how one could miss him was debatable.

"What are you looking for?"

Sakura shook her head, "Just thought Choji would be with you."

"Naw, he's busy today." With that, Shikamaru pulled out a chair and sat.

"Thought you had plans with the Hokage."

"Got my part taken care of, the rest doesn't involve me so I excused myself."

"Oh. Okay." Sakura stared at him while he waved to the waitress to bring him tea also. He looked back to her and asked, "Don't you usually go to the prison and check up on the new prisoner at this time in the afternoon?"

She blinked her green eyes a couple of times, but answered with, "Why yes I do but today I had a headache and stopped here for a bit to take a breather before…" Sakura stopped, turned to look him in the eye and asked, "How did you know that?"

"Ninja, remember?"

She rolled her eyes. "When did you take up comedy Shikamaru, so unlike you."

"I noticed, that's all."

"O…kay." He wasn't going to explain and she knew from experience that Shikamaru only talked when he had something to say and not before. The time spent having a somewhat stilted conversation with the Nara genius was a definite candidate for the list of 'Things Sakura Finds Odd'.

* * *

Later that afternoon after the pink-haired med-nin left the jail, Karin Uzumaki leaned her back to rest against the wall and crossed her arms in thought. With eyes closed and lowered head she went over the conversation that 'Pinky' had just tried to have with her.

She didn't mind the physical checkups so much but the chatting like they were old friends, well that was starting to drive her insane. If she wasn't already, after all, her formative teen years had been spent with Orochimaru and one couldn't get farther from a stable, healthy father-figure than him. So it was quite possible she was just one-hand sign short of a jutsu, but with all the 'gentle' interrogation they had been doing why were they tormenting her with Miss CheerPinkFul trying to bring her into the Leaf fold? A Yamanaka stomping around in her brain would be preferable if given the option.

The Sound kunoichi knew she was going to escape sooner or later, but really, if they were going to inflict this type of torture then she was going to have to make it sooner because at this rate Sakura would have her gossiping about boys while painting each other's nails.

 _Over my dead body,_ she thought grimly and crossed her arms. Then sighed and decided it was time for continuing her game.

"I hate Sasuke! I'd hate him so much I love him!" She muttered. In a slightly raise voice she stated, "Stab me will you! I am so done with him!"

Then lifting her head she leapt to her feet and shook her raised fist at an image only she could see. "You are such a bastard Sasuke Uchiha! I hate that I loved you!" Dropping her fist she turned her attention to the photograph of him sitting on the one table in the room. "After all I did for you too!"

Pointing an accusing finger at the photo she snarled, "I healed you! I used all my abilities to further your cause and then you throw me away! I hate you!" She pulled her finger back and jabbed it at the photo again, "Yes you!" Then her face crumpled and tears formed but she gulped them back. Karin didn't want to shed one more tear because of him. Oh, but he still made her insides churn with such anger!

Throwing herself down in front of the table she grabbed the photo and hunched over it in a kneeling position, clutching it to her chest. "No, no, no! How could I hate him? I love him so much I hate him!"

"No, I don't, I hate loving him if I didn't love hating him!"

Then a loud wail erupted out of her as she pitched the picture away from her only to launch herself after it, pounding away at it with a fist while hurling expletives that were nearly inaudible as her voice rose to such a screeching pitch.

Despite the fact the prison was sealed and a sensor's abilities were muffled she was still able to feel when the two jailors who had been watching her turned away shaking their heads at the crazy behavior the prisoner was exhibiting.

Good.

Finally emotionally spent, the Uzumaki female curled up on the floor of her cell giving the appearance she was exhausted from throwing herself around the cell and screaming. It had been quite the production. Maybe she should consider a career in theater since this ninja gig didn't seem to be working out too well for her. This brought up another point, a reason to try sooner than later to make a jail break besides Pinky. Karin was getting tired of acting so mercurial on cue rather than spontaneously as she was used to. It wore a body out after a while.

She smirked, reminding herself to be patient, everything in its time.

* * *

Til next time.

 _~Dwellin_

Although this is a fic about Karin, I love these characters and wanted to start off with them since they will be appearing later on.


	2. Chapter 2

All things **Naruto** belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Dwellin just collects with the action figures and writes fanfic.

 **Chapter 1**

The slender, dark haired assistant gave a polite knock to announce her intended entry thereby giving the person inside time to hide any sake` bottles in evidence.

Shizune paused for a breath and let it out a sigh before knocking again. She may be the assistant to the person considered the head and heart of the village yet the beleaguered aide often secretly thought her job should include the title of glorified babysitter to an unmanageable adult. Although, she had to admit, as she blew an errant bang out of her eye, things had been getting better over the past several months.

She waiting a moment and before entering the office. With a covert glance around, she quickly took in the deceptively calm scene of a hard-working Hokage hunched over a stack of papers in front of her.

Shizune was not fooled.

Her superior could have at least pretended to check the schedule which had been nudged out of the way so that it was precariously perched on the edge of the desk. It was obvious to the assistant that the Hokage certainly had no intention of rescuing it, let alone paying attention to what was written there.

 _Why do I even bother?_

Knowing her superior as well as she did Shizune noted that the older woman held fingertips to her temples as if her head was as fragile as spun glass.

Shizune softly informed, "Your two o'clock is here. Remember, you wanted Ibiki's update on the new prisoner?"

"Right, right" breathed out Tsunade cursing the pain reverberating and stabbing at the sides of her skull as if trying to break it in pieces. She could swear that one and only one bottle of sake was consumed the night before and now it felt as if the Konoha marching band was parading around inside her head… with out of tune instruments.

"Let him in," she muttered as she finally gave in and released enough power to wipe away all traces of a night of gambling and drink. Her head still felt tender but at least it didn't feel like her eyeballs were going to pop out of her head from the unrelenting pressure of a hangover gone wild.

"He's already here, standing in front of you."

Tsunade managed to lift her head to get a glimpse of the village's special elite ninja and head of the interrogation division before leaning back in her chair to rest her head and close her eyes.

"Report," she managed in a rough whisper.

As usual Ibiki's scarred face gave no hint of his thoughts as he started his report in a flat monotone with saying, "Hokage, the girl was very informative. We used our least invasive methods at the end and found her to be very susceptible to them."

It was some time later when Ibiki slowed, taking a breath while watching his superior intently to make sure she was able to follow along in her current state.

At his pause she opened her eyes and gave him a sharp look he was quite familiar with, she hadn't missed a word of what he was saying.

Observing the impatient look she was giving him and he quickly pressed on with his report.

Ibiki then paused again to give Tsunade's a chance to respond, but from her half-lidded stare he wasn't sure if she was still with him or not. That is, he didn't think so until she waved her hand gesturing for him to continue. Taking a breath, he delivered the rest of the report. At the conclusion, he also gave his standard appraisal that the enemy should be eliminated once it appeared that any further information couldn't be gleaned.

He eyed his superior. One elbow was on the desk propping her chin in hand gave her the appearance of being deep in thought. He gave a mental shrug; nothing for it but to forge ahead and restate his opinion.

Tsunade let out a sigh that caused her massive chest to rise and fall. Ibiki kept his eyes fixed on her face as she asked, "And how about Madara and Sasuke? Anything new in that area?" The Hokage lifted her head enough to peer up at Ibiki with one open bleary eye.

At the moment the thing she most appreciated about this particular ninja was that his voice was quiet and smooth.

He lowered his gaze to the floor in front of him as if giving him a moment to collect his thoughts and get them in order before replying. Tsunade closed her eyes again ready to listen.

"It appears she knows almost nothing about Madara or his plans. What she does know has more to do with Sasuke…which is a troubling matter all on its' own. Put that with what Naruto saw and heard and we get the same. One thing we have learned is true; she is a sensor of the first degree. We have never had anyone in our village with the depth of talent and range as she exhibits. Shame she's an enemy."

"Great. Little or next to nothing about Madara. What does she have to say about Sasuke then?"

"He's dark, yet fascinating."

Now one tawny eye opened and narrowed as she studied him. "I don't care about her opinion on whether she finds dark-haired men attractive…"

The look wasn't lost on him so he cut in and quickly explained, "She's describing his chakra."

"What about his chakra being dark?" Shizune interrupted without meaning to.

Tsunade lifted a hand and gestured lazily for Ibiki to continue.

He sighed a bit. He preferred the use of facts. Feelings were iffy, unstable things and he didn't like dealing with them. The thing was, the Hokage wanted to know what the prisoner had said and this is what the prisoner had talked about.

"She said that his chakra was changing. When she first knew him, it had been…" his mouth twisted as if tasting something foul and disgusting, "Sexy!" he finally spit out. "Then it turned dark and darker while growing malevolent and bitter among other things, but those the words were the most frequently used."

The Hokage's head lifted off her hand and now both eyes open to give him her full attention. Even Shizune leaned forward. Obviously it meant something more to them than it did him.

"She also said that it was changing with each battle he fought since killing Orochimaru." The only show of expression on the scarred man's face was a downturn of his mouth.

In the same monotone voice he said, "She can be erased if that is your desire."

Tsuanade felt the headache that had disappeared come back with a vengeance. She would do what was expedient for the village make no mistake about that. However and here she rubbed her temples again. There was always a twinge in her gut when it finally was time to give such an order. Not that she ever allowed it to show on her face though.

She pondered the problem of this female that wasn't exactly the glowing picture of mental health and emotional stability. What was the wise decision here?

"Oh, this is something interesting we found out just today."

Tsunade lifted her eyes to stare at him blearily. "Yes?"

"Her clan name is Uzumaki."

Silence descended over the room to the point one could have heard a leaf float down and land on the desk.

Hangover completely forgotten, Tsunade shot to her feet, slammed her palms on the desk and leaned forward to demand, "Are you absolutely certain of this?"

"The file on your desk has a photograph of her," Shizune said with a strained smile. If Tsunade-sama had bothered to open the folder and read the contents she would have seen it for herself.

Ibiki's face mirrored only momentary surprise before falling back into its usual bland, impassive expression. He inclined his head in affirmation while saying, "Of this we are most certain. There was no reason for her to lie. Besides, she does have the requisite red hair."

Tsunade slowly sunk to her chair considering the news. Uzumaki? Could it be?

"Unbelievable." Shizune muttered to herself.

"After all these years, another Uzumaki? What are the odds?"

"Very low," remarked Ibiki even though the Hokage had been speaking rhetorically. "Few survived; and any descendants are scattered to the four winds, mostly married into other clans and families so it is hard to determine exactly where the bloodline will turn up. Just the occasional redhead popping up here or there has given us a clue as to where they settled."

"I wonder how close of a relation she would be to Naruto." Shizune asked, curious. Then eyeing her superior, "Or you?" 

As the scarred man began to speak, two sets of eyes were pinned to him as they held their collective breath.

"Of course once hearing the name she knows that makes him a descendant of that clan as much as she is, but as to how close or far apart they are, she doesn't have a clue."

"If Naruto finds out that she is of his clan and we have her… eliminated, he is not going to be happy," stated Shizune.

"He and I both," was the instant reply.

"I can have this done, and it may be better if he doesn't know," said Ibiki in a toneless voice.

Tsunade took a moment to look out the window of her newly built office. It still had that new paint smell to it, all thanks to the upheaval of the devastation Pein had poured out upon them. So much wanton destruction. Would an insignificant nobody out of a dead clan have a negative or positive impact on her village? It was hard to say, but then, look at Naruto. The Hokage turned her attention back to her subordinates.

"You may leave Ibiki. I haven't made my decision yet so nothing is to happen to her to make her _disappear_ , understand?" Here those famous honey-colored eyes turned to the pin a hard stare at the commanding officer of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force. It brooked no disobedience. He fought to not fall back a pace.

Ibiki Morino was rarely intimidated by anyone, but as he looked back into those cat eyes studying him from over laced fingers he felt a chill race down his spine. Dropping his gaze he nodded, "She shall not be touched. I'll treat her like my own daughter."

"You don't have any children." Shizune pointed out.

With a bare touch of a smile on his lips, Ibiki replied, "If I had a child who was a spy for Orochimaru, threw in with the traitor Sasuke, had more than a passing familiarity with torture, human experimentation, and interrogation, while also being a science lab rat herself, and then was stupid enough to let herself get caught, then yes, she'd be just like a daughter of mine."

"Odd sense of humor you have Ibiki Morino," responded Shizune.

"Yes, yes, all well and good," the Hokage said while making a slight flap of the one hand to indicate to Ibiki he was free to leave, indeed, there was a hint of insistence to it. He bowed and exited the room, leaving his Hokage to her thoughts.

Shizune bent down to scratch TonTon behind the ears, who received such attention with closed eyes and making small grunts of appreciation. She knew Tsunade already had plans in mind for the criminal but just needed a few minutes to collect and arrange her thoughts.

"Hmmmm, Shizune?"

"Yes my lady?"

"I do believe I have a way that will ensure it works for the good of all Konokagakure."

Shizune held her tongue, knowing Tsunade as well as she did, the whole thought wasn't quite completed yet.

A quiet chuckling moved the impressive chest of the Hokage until it bloomed into rolling laughter to the point Tsunade was leaning back in her chair and pounding on the table with the flat of her hand.

Shizune couldn't understand how her superior wasn't clutching her head in pain.

"This is great!" The first female Hokage managed to choke out between peals of laughter. Shizune decided it didn't matter how the Fifth was able to ignore the pain of a hangover and began grinning along with her, the laughter was that infectious.

"Really?" she chuckled even if she didn't know why they were laughing.

Pounding the desk again while sending out hooting snorts of mirth to fill the room, the Hokage chortled and chuckled while Shizune joined her with muffled giggle but when it nearly turned into a snort she slapped a hand over her mouth to keep such unladylike sounds from escaping.

"Oh my!" roared Tsunade, I can see it all now!"

Shizune found herself chuckling again.

"Not to mention the fortune I'll make!"

Shizune stopped laughing, almost forgetting to breathe. Holy sainted Hokages! They were all doomed!

"Whaa, what are you planning on doing _this_ time?"

The Fifth stopped laughing, eyes narrowing as she leaned forward to prop her chin in a palm. A languid smile slowly stretched across her lips filling Shizune's heart with dread. Surely no good would come of this.

"Here's what we are going to do. We are going to have our best mind healers and psych teams take on this mislaid child of a lost clan, and we are also going to integrate her into Leaf. She will become one of us. And I have a couple of other ideas that I will keep to myself for now."

"Are you sure about this? She's not exactly the most stable of personalities."

Tsunade looked up at her dark-haired assistant and held her gaze before a wry smirk formed. "Very few shinobi are, Shizune, very few are."

Then she ordered, "Make sure of it. I am of a mind that this is going to happen." The younger woman turned to leave but before she could take a step, Tsunade spoke again.

"Oh Shizune, one more thing before you go. Send for Kakashi, I want to talk to him."

"But why?"

"Don't question my orders! Bring me Hatake and drag him by his spiky locks if you have to! I want him here pronto!"

"Yes of course my lady, I'll see to it right away!"

Shizune crossed the room, stepped out the door and beckoned to one of her several aides. After whispering instructions in the young man's ear she stepped back in the room and shut the door behind her. Turning to her elder she hesitated a moment, seeing the blond woman's head sunk down on crossed arms. Obviously the night before was catching up with her.

Tsunade rested her head in the crook of a forearm. Now that the momentary excitement was over, weariness was overtaking her, and she wanted nothing more than to take a nap.

As if by magic, a glass of something that looked like juice and a couple of painkillers appeared at her elbow.

Swiveling her head until one eye was free to peer over her crossed arms, Tsunade studied the glass suspiciously.

"What is this?"

"Just what the doctor ordered, everything to replace what you depleted last night in your drinking bout."

"It wasn't a bout! You make it sound so sordid. It was a carefully planned and executed attack on my liver. Now where's the rest of my bottle?"

"Dumped."

"I don't know why I keep you around."

"Because of the love."

The Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village groaned and swiveled her head back down to shut out the light and the increasingly irritating assistant of hers. It was going to be a long day.

Til next time,

~Dwellin


	3. Chapter 3

Woe is me, all things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Dwellin just writes… and collects.

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

* * *

Ibiki stood before the cell that held their newest prisoner. It had been several days since he had been in the Hokage's office to give his report and received his instructions but it was only now that he felt any need to check in with the captured enemy.

Shizune had come by a couple of times to visit with the prisoner while also dropping off some clothes. Hatake also, of all people, had dropped by for visits with the crazy redhead before also making an appearance in Ibiki's office.

When questioned about what the silver-haired jounin had learned from the inmate he had only shrugged enigmatically. If Ibiki had any kind of the authority over his former classmate, he would have thrown the Copy Ninja in the same cell as the prisoner if he so badly wanted to chat with her, but the Hokage had sent him down and Kakashi had been there on legitimate orders.

Ibiki was always slightly suspicious of Kakashi's; he couldn't get over the feeling that the jounin had an unseen ulterior motive in operation.

And now Ibiki stood in front of her cell to inform the prisoner of the coming transfer the next day.

Looking through the bars his mouth dipped in distaste seeing the new clothes she was wearing, while wondering why the normal protocols were being ignored and she had been given permission to wear the clothes she had been wearing when taken prisoner. Even as he wondered the Sound prisoner finally lifted blank red eyes to meet his.

Orochimaru's brat was staring at him from under lowered brows even as he studied her wondering what she would allow him to see. Some prisoners were braggarts, or threatened, or begged, or were silent in their brokenness. She was none of those things.

Yet, as he contemplated the young woman before him, even he could acknowledge that if only for the precious bloodline alone, the valuable abilities she possessed, she could be of benefit to his beloved village.

"Your usefulness to us for gaining information has come to an end. This cell will be vacated and you will be moved from here within the next day or as soon when the official papers are signed and processed."

Karin was shocked but managed to keep it hidden under a scowling glare. How she detested this man. Man! Hardly that, more like an animated, order-taking, emotionless, soulless, snake. Orochimaru would've loved him.

Karin wasn't fooled. She could have been a fully-trained medic had she had the desire; still, one of her abilities was healing. She knew the human body and she was very acquainted with her own. On and off during her time here she had been given something in her lunch that had made her feel as if she were floating and wrapped up in cotton balls making her muscles act like she was drunk.

Once they thought her out, and she very nearly was, they had carried her, to a room where a man from the Yamanaka clan was waiting. Quite frankly, she didn't remember much except for him laying a hand on her head and murmuring, "I thought you said she would be unconscious."

"What?"

"She's fighting it."

"Can you do something about it?"

"I can."

And that's the last she heard. The next thing she knew was waking up in her cell. This had happened several times since her capture.

Whatever it was they wanted from her it must have been found. Now she wasn't "useful" to them anymore. Karin wondered when the date of execution would be and clinically considered what their method would be to dispose of her. She herself knew of many quick methods taught to her by Kabuto.

Snapping back from her reminiscing, she found the large, scarred man standing with hands clasped behind his back studying her as if she were a large lab rat. She knew the look. It was dispassionate and grim, as if he would like to start the dissection process right then and there.

How long they would have stood staring at each other was anyone's guess, but just then a junior came up and whispered something in his ear. Without turning to his underling he said, "Yes, make the preparations. We will continue as if everything is normal. All we are waiting for is the final documentation. She won't be our guest for very much longer."

With that, his assistant turned, giving Karin a look she interpreted as pity and walked away, the clack of his boot heels fading down the hall while her panicky thoughts raced. It wouldn't be long now. It meant that whatever action she took it had to be in the next forty-eight hours, but better sooner rather than later.

Instead of reverting to her go-to mode of being a loud-mouth, uncharacteristically Karin kept silent. Then, to show indifference she did not feel, she stepped back and returned to her cot ignoring the presence of Konaha's chief interrogator.

"I see. Using a new tactic today." He studied her reclining figure for a moment before heaving a breath and saying, "Fine then. I have more important things to do than stand here being ignored by worthless trash."

Yet, she thought, he had come down and informed her of their decision himself. How did that rate as 'worthless'? Unless it was yet another form of torture to the condemned, and just how did that make the high and mighty Konoha better than Sound?

The redheaded Uzumaki crossed arms over her chest as if to keep the racing of her heart under control, waiting for him to leave. Only when the sound of his boots slowly faded down the hall did she let out a relieved breath.

Then she rolled over, facing the wall, and she gave in to the fear and anger that had been rising since her jailor's arrival. Reaching up Karin pushed fingers up under her glasses and wiped at her eyes, willing the prickle of gathering tears to dry up and disappear. One lone tear spilled out but she rubbed at the treacherous sign of weakness before it could trickle past her cheek. When another traitorous tear leaked out only to be followed by more, then the girl gave in and covered a tear-streaked face with her hands. Maybe, once it would be all right to give in to real tears; yes, just this once.

The thing was, she didn't want to die! She didn't regret though it though. It had been worth it to follow Sasuke around as one of his band. For once, she had felt a part of something. It had, however, come as a surprise to find out that she liked traveling, seeing new sights, new faces, different people's culture and ways of doing things. There was always something interesting going on somewhere.

She ought to know, after living in a jailhouse for a home all these years. As the Taka team traveled, every chance available, Karin would purchase travel magazines. They all had been filled with photographs of unbelievably beautiful places. Who wouldn't want to live to see such sights, eat the local cuisine, and enjoy customs in different towns and lands? She was young and had places to see yet! There was so much to do, so much living to be lived! And boys she hadn't yet flirted with.

Taking a calming breath, Karin went over her options which, obviously, were mighty few. Still, she did have a small secret and that secret may just help her in achieving her freedom. And if she did manage to escape, she would escape this place so fast it would be like she had wings on her feet. Besides, the people here were so, so… What was the word for it… oh, warm, outgoing, and just way too damn _friendly_!

In her opinion, people were just naturally inherently selfish, cruel, power-hungry, and hateful. This people were nothing but hypocrites and soon the mask had to drop but not that it mattered, for she planned to be long gone and never, not ever, come back to this place.

The orphan daughter of the Uzumaki clan reached up and touched the earpiece of her glasses and smirked. Tonight would be the night.

* * *

Ibiki scowled and clenched his fists as his assistants reported the reason why the alarm was going off. The prisoner had escaped.

They had found the attendant on duty inside her cell, bound and gagged. The anger and pricked pride of having their reputation besmirched as the hidden village with the least amount of successful escapes was pushed aside as the scarred man had to acknowledge that the girl had done what had not been accomplished in years: escape on his watch.

"How?" He had to raise his voice above the clamor of the klaxon.

"We don't know exactly how, but she was able to use his keys, chakra, and thumbprint to activate the locks without setting off the alarms," yelled the subordinate, trying to be heard above the noise.

The scarred man's eyes widened. That shouldn't have been possible. Apparently this piece of trash had other peculiar and unknown abilities that had gone undetected.

"Find her! Bring her back! Put her to the question!" He roared, eyes ringing from the infernal noise of the alarm.

The two assistants exchanged a look at the euphemism for extreme torture.

" **Y'..yes sir!** " They shouted, saluted and were out the door in a flash.

"AND HAVE SOMEONE TURN OFF THAT DAMN ALARM!" He bellowed after them, barely able to hear himself think.

Ibiki turned back to his desk and was reaching for the necessary paperwork to fill out to report and relaxed, grateful, when the alarm was turned off. He nearly sighed with relief at the blessed quiet.

Then he leaned down to dig through the files in his desk drawers. It was such a rare occurrence to have someone escape that he wasn't sure where the papers were to file that report. As he was rifling through the folders he heard a voice speaking from the door.

Whirling in his chair, the big man relaxed his battle-ready muscles when he realized it was Hatake who was slouching insolently (in his opinion) against the doorframe with arms crossed.

"Tsunade told me to remind you that the prisoner is not to be tortured."

Ibiki looked his former classmate up and down. "This is an escape. There are different protocols followed when that happens." He stood up and came around the desk.

"Still, the Hokage forbids any harm coming to her."

"Why wasn't I informed?"

"You're being informed now."

The chief interrogator pushed his fist into his pockets and stared at the one black eye regarding him. "Not good enough. What's going on?"

Kakashi could feel the frustration and disgust rolling off the man in waves. There was nothing better the larger man would like to do than to get his hands around the little escapee's neck right now.

"I don't know it all, but now you know what I know."

Ibiki gave the slender, wiry man a flat-eyed look. "I only do what is necessary."

"Right. Well, okay then, Naruto and I are off to retrieve our little lost lamb and we can't be tripping over your men as we meet with them on our return, so please try to stay out of our way."

"This is your mission?" He glanced down at his fellow ninja's empty hands. There should have been papers in them for this to be an official assignment.

Seeing where the other man was gazing, the one eye crinkled at the corners of the eye as Kakashi answered, "Yes, but I can't wait around for you to send and receive back the approved papers stamped and signed." He gave a little shrug, "The lady herself gave me orders."

The beefier man's teeth could be heard grinding as he unconsciously reached up and fingered one of the scars running down his face. "I don't care what your mission is Kakashi, but I am not going to deviate from my own course of action until I talk to the Hokage and find out for myself what her orders are."

"You don't trust me?" The question came out quiet and seemingly full of humor but Ibiki heard the steel and trace of threat underneath.

"Of course not! You must take me for an idiot, eh?"

"My feelings are hurt! I've never lied to you!" Now there was true humor lacing his words, and the interrogator could hear the smile in his voice even if it was hard to discern it through that mask of his.

"Fine then, maybe you didn't lie at times, but tweaked and twisted the truth to your own purposes time and time again," he nearly spat the last of that out.

"Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree won't we?" came the light response and all that could be seen of the Copy Ninja's face was that damn crinkling eye hinting at a smile.

The head of the Torture and Interrogation Force made a harrumphing sound into what was now empty air for Kakashi was already gone.

"Always have to have the last word, don't you Hatake", growled Ibiki shaking his head before squaring his shoulders and heading out the door to meet with the Hokage.

* * *

Before exiting the prison hold, Kakashi spared a moment to stop and glance in the room that had been set up to look like an office room. A slight smile lifted the ends of his lips. The file cabinet that contained the maps had been broken into. He didn't need to go and check to know that she had lifted the ones left especially for her. How Tsunade-same knew she was going to make a jail break was beyond him but knew this Uzumaki wouldn't be allowed to slip away.

"Kaka sensei, why are we just hanging around out here if we are supposed to retrieve a prisoner?"

Kakashi noted Naruto wasn't protesting too much, especially since they were sitting on stools at the number one restaurant in Konoha (in Naruto's opinion of course) who was now sucking up as many noodles into his mouth as was humanly possible while making ecstatic noises of appreciation.

Kakashi sighed and looked down at his own half-filled bowl. He had only finished this much compared to Naruto's four empty bowls and even now his former student was working on his fifth.

When Kakashi had offered to buy Naruto lunch the youth hadn't hesitated but had leaped on the uncharacteristically generous offer.

"Naruto, there's something I need to tell you."

"Is it about our mission?"

"Yes… in a manner of speaking."

"Speaking? Speaking of what? You haven't said anything yet." Naruto dived back into his bowl, humming around the noodles he was shoving in his mouth with enthusiasm.

"Well, it's about this prisoner that has escaped…."

"Oh yeah, so what about it? We go and get the prisoner and escort them back. What's so hard about that?"

"Uh, well, for starters, we have to wait a couple of days…"

"WHAT!?" Noodles slid out of an open shocked mouth and it was a sight that Kakashi wished he could erase from his mind. He reached up his free hand and rubbed his eyes with pads of his thumb and forefinger. He was starting to lose his appetite.

"The Hokage gave me the mission orders and that is part of it. We are to wait because this is not just about catching an escaped prisoner." He turned to focus the lone eye on his former student. "This also concerns you."

"Me? Why? Oh, is it because of the Kyuubi thing?" He made a face of disgust. It was _always_ about that. It was never because of his skill or his abilities; instead, it was always about the fox hosted within him. That seemed to be the thing that was on EVERYONE'S mind, especially of late. He took a huge bite and sucked in the heavenly tasting noodles soaked in the broth of the gods.

"No."

Naruto's chopsticks halted in surprise while a couple of limp, dripping noodles dangled out of his mouth as he turned huge blue eyes to stare at Kakashi,

"Whafff? Eff nob?"

"Er, run that by me again, and," Kakashi made a circular motion with his hand to indicate to Naruto to hurry up and suck in the dangling noodle ends, "for Kami's sake, please chew and swallow before speaking." He pushed his own bowl away, suddenly not in the least bit hungry.

"I said, "What? It's not?""

"What's not?"

"What's not " _not about me_ " or about, " _about me"_ " Naruto stabbed his chopsticks in Kakashi's direction.

"What are you…." Kakashi stopped himself. This was the wrong tack to take with the overactive blonde. He was getting sucked into Naruto-land and he needed to nip that in the bud right quick.

"No, what I should have said was that this mission concerns you as in your clan name."

Naruto stopped mid-chew but mindful of the request to swallow his food made quick work of emptying his mouth and filling his belly. Besides, it was for his own safety's sake to do so, especially when Kakashi's black eye was fixed on him glittering with something akin to a warning.

"Okay, what is it?" He asked curiously.

"Well," started the Copy Nin, rubbing the back of his neck with a hand.

Naruto tilted his head; his former sensei was acting oddly and now seemed to be embarrassed which made him wonder if Kakashi was blushing under the mask. He sure was acting like it.

"The prisoner that escaped?"

Naruto nodded.

"Funny thing is, it turns out that she may be related to you." Kakashi dropped his hand and swiveled on his stool to fully face the blonde in case he needed to leap up and help Naruto up off the floor, or to administer CPR.

Naruto stared. Then his eyes grew wider than Kakashi had ever seen them get.

Next he threw back his head and laughed, clutching hands over his stomach and he rocked perilously on his stool to the point Kakashi was sure the youth would tip right off.

Slowly the orange-clad ninja's laugh died down to mere chuckles and one final hiccup before he looked up at the silver-haired man who was still eyeing him with some concern.

"Oh that's a good one Kaka sensei. Me with family members still living!" He closed one eye and pointed a finger at his former sensei, "But I'm not falling for it!"

Kakashi scratched his masked cheek with a fingertip. This was going to be a little more difficult than he had expected.

"Do you want the rest of that?" Naruto used his chopsticks to point at the half-filled bowl in front of Kakashi.

The Copy Nin slid it over with a sigh.

* * *

Until next time

~Dwellin


	4. Chapter 4

All things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto and I'm not him.

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

* * *

Karin Uzumaki's breathing sounded harsh and raspy even to her and it was all she could do to keep herself from panicking. Her specific shinobi training had included only the elementary basics of offensive attack since she had not been trained for battle. Her specialty had been in putting down prison riots along with escapes, and yes, the irony was not lost on her. The majority of her training time had been spent more on her tracking and sensing abilities along with being trained as a research and medical assistant.

So now it came as no surprise that she was finding that certain areas lacking in her ninja training were coming back to bite her in the butt.

The redhead was definitely _not_ conditioned or ready for this kind of leaping and springing along treetops at a breakneck speed for days on end! Granted, she had started to get comfortable using trees as a means of travel while hanging out with Sasuke, but mostly she had lived in a rocky, treeless region for years now. Tree-sprinting was not her favorite mode of transportation.

No, instead, this was a race where _she_ ("the heroine") was being pursued and hunted by relentless predators known (beloved by some, not her of course) as Leaf ninjas. Every trick known to her had been tried yet she was unable to shake them off her trail.

She had never been chased by hunter-nins before. Upon that thought she grimaced. That also had not been part of her training and certainly not something required of Orochimaru's lab rat and jail-keeper.

Leaping down and landing on the forest floor because for some instinctive reason she felt safer there, the panting girl leaned a hand against a tree and tried to catch her breath. Who knew that being held in a jail cell would leave her this out of shape in such a short period of time!

Stupid Leaf inquisitors! Stupid Orochimaru! Stupid Akatsuki! Stupid Sasuke for trying to kill her along with that stupid pinky-haired girl who then had the damn gall to heal her! Stupid Leaf ninjas for capturing her! Stupid Sakura with her stupid tears! Stupid Hatake for carrying her! Stupid scar-faced torturer! And then back to the absolutely stupid, _stupid_ Sasuke!

This whole ordeal really was _his_ fault entirely! It was all because of _him_ that she required medical attention in the first place and they were able to bring her back as a prisoner. But mostly…and yes, she could admit it….stupid, stupid her with her stupid, stupid heart. It all came back to her being the weak one.

Karin winced at the sharp pain lancing through her side interrupting her mental recital of the Stupid List. The pain forced her to hunch over and automatically place hand over the stitch that had been forming for a while now. A week of running every day all day and despite the abundant reserves and stamina inherited from her bloodline it was starting to take a toll. She was beginning to get low on chakra. Her! This had never happened to _her_ before! Not like this!

She had been born into a clan known for its amazing amounts of stamina, life force, longevity and a near limitless supply of chakra. Yet, here she was, panting, sweating and hoping like hell that they would get tired of chasing her down. She grimaced wryly, yeah, that was bound to happen any day now.

However, noted Karin, she had never been blessed with that kind of luck in the past. Had anything in her life ever hinted at good luck coming her way? A quick inventory of her past history said _hell_ and _no_.

Time felt like it was flying by too quickly for comfort so the red-haired girl straightened and with a grunt of effort leaped up to the nearest limb to continue the journey. However, it wasn't long before she was once again on the ground, leaning against a tree, nearly doubled over while gasping for breath. This was not good. Her knees were getting wobbly and losing chakra control on the soles of her feet causing her to slip on some landings. If she wasn't careful it would be a long fall to the forest floor.

Having a near limitless supply of chakra meant that she rarely experienced exhaustion due to chakra depletion. _So this is what it's like. I've never been so tired in my life!_

Consequently, the irritating and galling fact was that after all this time _no one_ should have been able to follow her without reaching _their_ depletion level first, days ago! No doubt some kind of tracking-nin would have followed a cold trail but they shouldn't be anywhere near her, let alone closing the gap!

Even knowing that the Leaf ninja were some of best trackers and hunters in the known shinobi world the long-haired girl had started out with a confident belief she would soon leave them eating her dust and make a clean escape _._ In the last couple of days, that confidence had taken quite the beat down.

The panting soon slowed as her breathing returned to normal until she was finally able to straighten even if it meant leaning against the tree to keep from falling on her face. The feel of rough bark dug into her back and for the first time Karin began to doubt she would be able to lose this persistent hunter.

She patted the pouch at her side, noting that the rations she had filched were getting low. Her legs were beginning to cramp and ache from not getting enough rest or sleep and if a mirror had been available at the moment, she knew dark circles would be standing out against the pale skin of her face.

 _It was the perfect time to escape!_ She pouted to herself. _So damn unfair making a poor girl dash over hill and dale when all she's ever been trained to do really is be a glorified babysitter!_

The former glorified-babysitter pushed her glasses up her sweaty nose even as she turned to cast a worried glance in the direction behind her. Even knowing that she wouldn't be able to see anyone, she couldn't help it. Every nerve thrummed and the hairs were standing up on the back of her neck.

When she first escaped, the only plan Karin had was to try and hook back up with Sasuke despite the fact he had tried to kill her and then ordered Sakura to kill her. It was all she had now, all she knew. She wasn't one to hold a grudge over a trivial thing like that. Well, maybe just a little. Okay, to be honest, it still pissed her off a lot!

The one man she had ever given her heart to and helped had rejected her twice in one day. Yes indeed, nothing really screamed "rejection" quite the way an intentional "make-her-dead" order did, particularly when given to his former teammate also still happened to be in love with him! How messed up was that? And did she even need to mention that he said that _she_ , who had fed him her chakra how many times now, had stated that she, his most loyal teammate, was … _useless!_ _A burden!?_

The problem was if she couldn't find Sasuke, Karin had no purpose in life. And how damned pathetic was that? The one person she had looked to for a reason to keep on going had abandoned her and the "father-figure" was dead along with anyone she may have loosely called comrades.

"This is beyond pathetic!" she gasped out. Finally, when Karin wasn't feeling quite so winded, she turned her head to scan the immediate area behind once again.

A worried frown crinkled her forehead. In her inexperienced opinion, it felt like whatever was causing the unshakeable feeling was at least half a day behind. It was just a guess though, what did she know?

"I'm surrounded by trees and not sure where I am," she glumly informed her immediate surroundings. "Annnd- _now_ I'm talking to trees. Perfect." She closed her eyes with a sigh.

With that realization, she wiped a sweaty brow and went back to the more pressing matter of making a decision on which direction to travel. The map been less than helpful which had her thinking, _Stupid Leaf Nin with their equally stupid maps!_

With a shrug the redhead turned in a direction hoping that it was north, or west or northwest even. It was hard to tell when one couldn't get a good look at the position of the sun. All she knew was that it was still daylight. But no matter which country she was headed toward there had to be an end to the Land of Fire sometime or other and hopefully, these Leaf trackers would stop at the border.

Knowing it wasn't a good idea to stay in one place too long the girl lifted red eyes to glance up at what little sky she could glimpse through the thick foliage above. Judging by the way the light was dimming night would be falling soon.

Absently she pushed at the bridge piece of her glasses and contemplated her surroundings again. There didn't seem to be a good hiding place anywhere nearby. If only she could find a river or cliff, or a river with a cliff, waterfalls, anything besides trees, trees, and even more trees.

With a leap that was taking more effort each time, Karin sprang and landed on a large branch high above the forest floor and took a moment to sense if anyone had closed in on her. It was doubtful since she was that good, well usually. Something on an instinctive level deep within her that had nothing to do with chakra sensed the hunters hadn't given up.

Soon, Karin was traveling in ground-covering bounds, leaping from branch to branch but with less grace and energy than what she had started out the day with. Fatigue and dwindling hope were becoming constant companions.

* * *

"Kaka-sensei, I've never been able to sense her and you keep saying you haven't either so what are we going to do if the batteries run out on this thing?" Naruto Uzumaki inquired as he practically flew from branch to branch next to Konoha's famous Copy Ninja matching the silver-haired man leap for leap, from branch to branch while taking quick peeks at a small tracking device he had been carrying since they had started out.

"I can see now why Tsunade-sama wanted the tag placed in her clothes." The lone silver brow furrowed a bit as he did a quick calculation. "But I believe it will run out sometime in the next couple of days. Hard to say with these new experimental models so we have to find her before then. I didn't think she would be quite this slippery. I would have put the nin pack on her track but they're needed for another job."

"Well, we'll find her with or without their help," the blonde replied, giving the device a little shake. "Besides I want to talk to her."

"I guessed as much when you swiped an extra monitor and then later sent the others off in the wrong direction. They are going to be pissed when they find out, Naruto."

"Yeah," he grinned sheepishly but then turned serious, "Like I said, I want to talk to her and I don't want any to hear any babbling about rules and crap."

Kakashi nodded. He had seen Naruto palm the finger-sized monitor on Shizune's desk. Also, later, when intel was being discussed on the escapee, he hadn't stopped the brash youth from coming in later and breathlessly reporting that the prisoner had been spotted making her way toward Suna.

The more experienced ninja wouldn't have taken a youth's word but Kakashi had been standing behind Naruto nodding his head as if in total agreement. If asked about it later, he would just say he had been bobbing his head to a song he had stuck in his head.

He glanced over at the earnest expression of the spiky-haired blonde. Naruto, above anyone else he had known in his life took bonds, family, friendships and connections very, very seriously.

Indeed, upon hearing that Karin was an Uzumaki, an orphan of one of the few surviving families of the Whirlpool clan, Naruto's blue eyes had widened in shock before turning hard and set in an unwavering determination. Once the Leaf's jinchuuriki's mind was made up, his whiskered face took on that stubborn, closed-up look that no amount of reasoning with would ever be able to change.

Kakashi knew that others may be uncertain of how close family-wise the two Uzumaki youth actually were but distant cousins or not, it wouldn't matter to Naruto. No matter how sunk into the darkness this particular Uzumaki was, Naruto would be bound and determined to plummet down to the depths to retrieve this long lost soul of Whirlpool descent and raise her up into the light. Now, he sighed again, if only that could work on Sasuke.

He threw a quick look at his former student and saw the familiar set chin. Indeed, if this wayward lost child of Whirlpool knew what was good for her she would just give up now, because she was about to meet the one Uzumaki that was an unstoppable force of nature.

Thoughts of Kushina flooded through his mind but he shoved those memories down. This was no time to be nostalgic.

Turning to face forward again, he found himself hoping that Operation "Redeem the Criminal" wouldn't be quite as dramatic as some of Naruto's other confrontations.

When Kakashi had carried the wounded girl on his back after the clash with Sasuke, Madara, and those strange white putty-looking clones, he never had a sense that Karin Uzumaki was inherently evil. She was raised by Orochimaru so what else had she known? There may be hope for her yet, especially if Naruto wasn't about to give up on her.

There was silence between the two for a long while each became absorbed in their own thoughts. On they raced with graceful springs and leaps along the dense tree path, landing on thick ancient branches before leg muscles bunched to launch them up into long bounds through the air once again.

Finally, Naruto broke the silence, "You know, even I hadn't… uhm… even if the others hadn't….Uh.. "

"Been tricked," Kakashi supplied helpfully.

"Uh, yeah. Well, they would have tried to make us all travel with them!" He thrust out his chin in indignation, "And I just don't have time to travel at their slow pace. Besides, they might have hurt her."

"Never mind Naruto, it'll work out. Oh, but that reminds me! Tell the Nine-tails I'm glad he's sharing his chakra or else I would have had to drop out a while ago to continue at a more leisurely pace."

"He says to tell you, 'You're not welcome, I just do what I'm told, complacent fellow that I am,' Naruto threw Kakashi an apologetic look, "He's kinda in a mood today. Don't know why though."

Then giving his former sensei a slight grin, he teased, "But if you had followed at a slower pace that would have given you time to read as you traveled."

"Ha, ha, very funny, such a wit! You know I would never compromise a serious mission in that way."

When Naruto opened his mouth in protest, Kakashi held up a finger and quickly overrode him insisting, "NOT when we still were on the mission, when it was over and headed home, that's another matter!"

"Uhm, Kaka sensei?"

"Hn?"

"About the rules…"

Kakashi turned his lone eye on the young man traveling next to him. ""Let me guess, the one specifically mentioning escaped prisoners not being allowed to leave the Land of Fire alive?"

"Yeah. That one." Naruto met his look with an unyielding one of his own and Kakashi could feel the strength of his beliefs as they matched gaze for gaze. Then Naruto turned to face forward again before springing off the branch they had both landed on.

Despite the seriousness intent that was radiating off Naruto, Kakashi easily caught up and teased, "Afraid they would interfere with your 'ninja-way'?" What if this other Uzumaki has her own 'ninja-way' that clashes with _your_ way?"

Naruto's lips were lifted in the first showing of humor since they had left the village. "Well I guess I'll deal with that when the time comes. I know others would say I'm making a mistake. You don't think I am, do you Kaka-sensei?"

There was silence for a while as Kakashi thought about what would be the best way to answer that, and finally opted for what he honestly felt. "For anyone else, I would have to say, 'Yes, this is a mistake,' but this is you, Naruto, and I trust you, and besides, I don't think this girl is evil through and through like many we have met and battled in the past.

"I don't think she is either, after all, she is my sister."

 _Sister_?! Surprised Kakashi faltered a bit before quickly correcting his sloppy footwork to regain his balance. It was his first slip in years and he was thankful the only one around to see it was Naruto. As it was, the masked ninja halted in stunned surprise to watch the blonde young man leap ahead from branch to branch, tree to tree, with that boundless energy of his.

Kakashi shook his head slightly to get himself back together and then put a little extra spark of chakra in his next several springs in order to catch up and land next to Naruto.

Naruto glanced at the silver-haired ninja from the corner of his eye. It was not lost on Kakashi that the blue orb was winkling back and forth from blue to red before finally settling on shining bright blue again

Kakashi's eye crinkled in a smile in return. This was going to be an interesting adventure.

 _Although others might have a problem with the familial claim_ , he thought, but wisely kept that thought to himself and instead settled his stride to match that of Naruto's. This was a wrinkle in the plan that had not been foreseen, but what else was new when it came to this kid?

 _Unpredicatable, energetic and never gives up._ _I doubt she'll see this coming._

* * *

~Dwellin


	5. Chapter 5

All things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto and I'm not him.

I've been posting more often of late as I have been on a writing spree.

Thanks to Aine of Knockaine and MillyT who helped me by looking over these chapters and ladies I respect.

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

* * *

The even pace the two Leaf ninjas had established on their journey was oddly lulling while also giving Kakashi a chance to work things out in his head. One would've thought by now that Naruto's opinions and pronouncements wouldn't be so surprising, yet—

He mulled, _Sister, he had actually called the girl, his 'sister'._

Legs pumping in an easy rhythm, he wondered if the young man truly believed it. Then correcting himself, _Of course Naruto believes it, he wouldn't have_ _ **said**_ _it otherwise!_

Kakashi would have kept silent on the journey, content to watch the forest floor under their airborne feet flash by in a blur but this newest kink in Naruto's belief system compelled him to speak.

Eye firmly on the tree scape in front of them, he cautioned, "Naruto you have to keep in mind that she _is_ a prisoner of war, a former follower of Orochimaru, one of Sasuke's traveling companions, and as such, a valuable source of information and an enemy of Leaf." He didn't share the other orders he had received from Tsunade as she had plans of her own that hadn't been entrusted to the youth.

"No one is going to torture _my_ family; you have my word on it! She's coming home with me!"

 _Wonderful_. That was all he needed. This was only going to make things more complicated when they caught up with her and then dragged her (politely of course) back to the village.

"No one was planning on torturing her, just so you know, but we can't have her wandering around the countryside either."

Kakashi didn't doubt for a second that they would catch her. "When we return with her, she will be remanded over to the legal system."

Here Naruto turned to look at his former teacher who upon feeling the weight of his companion's gaze turned to meet it. It was a hard, resolute look and there was no give in it. "They definitely will not torture her. _I_ won't let them. She's _my_ family and I'm gonna take care of her."

Years ago, Kakashi would have sighed. Naruto was the most un-ninja-like ninja there ever was in the whole history of ninja-dom going all the way back to the very first ninja baby. He definitely never followed the set path of tradition or protocol if it didn't agree to the standards of his own ninja way.

The only thing he could do here was mentally shrug, there was no sense in arguing as the masked ninja knew exactly where that would get him…nowhere. Whether people liked it or not, accepted it or not, for all intents and purposes, the Konoha branch of the Uzumaki family had increased by one new member-

That is, once they were able to return with her and with her most likely kicking, spitting, and scratching the whole way.

Kakashi sighed again, ruefully this time. The one and only group of genins he had ever passed and they happened not only to be history-changers but also colossal pains in the butt. How this would finally play out was anyone's guess, but as for him, he was going to trust Naruto's instincts in this. They usually had a way of working out in the end.

He shook his head realizing how ridiculous it was trying to predict the unpredictable.

* * *

It was the next day when Karin finally found a cliff that suited her expectations. She had come to the end of the forest and her chakra. The Konoha hunting-ninja who had been following her had finally run her to ground and dry of all chakra. _Whoever this is, is ruining my perfect escape and my life! Stupid hunters!_

Falling to her knees, she could feel the emptiness of the utter depletion of energy and didn't even have enough emotional energy to feel disappointed, especially since she was too busy concentrating on not passing out or vomiting right then.

After a moment of resting, the escaped prisoner crawled forward to take a look over the edge to confirm what was suspected. What met her eyes let her know that she was indeed at the top of a cliff; an extremely high, towering cliff.

After a brief bout of vertigo, she could confirm that, yes indeed…it was a very, very long way down to the bottom. She lifted her eyes to scan the horizon, taking in the sight. _I must be on the edge of Waterfall and Fire. This certainly doesn't look like it leads to the land of Grass._

Looking back down again she considered the nearly straight drop to the bottom and thought, _how very lucky, no outcroppings to break my fall_. Karin closed her eyes tight and thought _yep, I have all the luck in the world and every bit of it a beastly kind of straight-up shitty._

Opening her eyes, she waited for the bout of dizziness to pass and contemplated again the sheer drop. Maybe, just squeaking-maybe, someone at full chakra-strength could possibly walk down some of it and climb down the rest.

It was obvious. There were only two choices before her: let them drag her back for torture and death or leap off this ledge to her death. With a snort of disdain Karin's lip curled up at the two options.

There had to be another way, if only she could think of it. The situation wouldn't be so dire if she had any food or water left. Even a little bit of either would raise her flagging energy levels a bit, maybe not enough to trek across country, but certainly enough to think of a solution.

At least now she had stopped panting. Karin slowly and with difficulty, pulled herself into a wobbly standing position although discouragingly, she couldn't straighten entirely, but Kami take it all, it felt so good not to be moving and just stay in one place and rest. _I love resting. I want to rest for the rest of my life!_ She barely had the strength to grin at her own bad joke which lifted her spirits a bit. Closing her eyes, the young woman tilted her head back to enjoy the slight breeze drying the sweat on her brow.

That's when she felt them, and not with her innate sensing abilities, but that sense that all humans have when they are suddenly not alone and know it.

Red eyes flew open and with a sinking feeling in her stomach, Karin turned to look to the side where the forest broke on this patch of green before the cliff. There leaping down from the trees to land in the grassy area were two hunter-nin of the hidden Leaf village.

Wait. These had been the ones following her? _These_ were the hunter-nin?

A snarl started out of her but stopped abruptly. How mortifying, there wasn't even energy to sneer at one's enemies!

One of them was Mr. Orange-Chakra-Warmth. Delightful! She had been run to ground by _this_ guy? Oh wait, there it was again, underneath that comforting chakra of his was a lurking aura of menace along with a dormant, snarling sea of menace, hate, and rage.

Karin knew her inability to sense clearly was being greatly affected by her lack of chakra making what she was receiving dull and foggy so no wonder she hadn't realized they were there until they were practically right on top of her!

Her eyes widened, for the other one was _that_ guy, the one who had carried her all the way back from the bridge to Konoha.

"Yo!"

"Sis!"

"Oh," she said weakly with a slight smirk, "It's the never-runs-dry chakra-fairy and old no-face dude."

"Chakra-fairy?!" Naruto knew she had been talking to him because she had frowned at him while she said it. To be sure, he pointed a finger at himself and asked, "You mean me?"

"Old. I'm not old." Kakashi reached up and fingered a dangling lock of a hair, "It's the silver, isn't it? Everyone says it's deceptive along with being uniquely and charmingly distinctive!"

With difficulty, Karin straightened up and summoned up the last of her strength to snarl out, "I'm not going back with you Konoha dogs just to be tortured and killed! So suck leaf mulch!"

Neither one reacted, just exchanged looks before focusing their attention on her again. She frowned at them and said with as much fierce defiance as she could, "A deeply sincere and heartfelt _'Up yours'_ to the both of you!" Okay, that had winded her. She placed a hand on her chest panting, trying to catch her breath.

That's when the despair hit. She could only stare at them, swaying a bit as she did so.

"Well, that's a lot of gumption for someone who is surrounded… started Kakashi but Naruto broke in saying, "Look at you; you're drained, done in and ready to keel over."

Karin could only stare at them blankly, and then blinked.

Naruto smiled and continued, thumb tapping his chest, "But don't worry, you are under my… **HEY**!"

His shout came as the red-haired girl use the last bit of strength to jump off the ledge.

" _Shit!_ " Thought Kakashi even as he yelled at Naruto, "Go! Go! I'm right behind you." Both men broke into furious movement.

Naruto ran and launched himself off the edge, air rushing past him as he followed her down…, falling, falling down, and down, almost to her, almost…. There she was, there she was… and there she went-

The ex-prisoner had grabbed at some branches halting her fall while he plummeted right past her!

" **HEY!"**

Out of the corner of her eye Karen saw something orange, yellow, and red flash by her; something that oddly looked like a person on fire. However she didn't care and turned to deal with her own predicament. It wasn't her fault if the idiot had thrown himself out into space and was now in a nosedive to death.

Focusing back on her own troubles, the escapee realized she was thoroughly snagged in a tangle of vines, dead branches, and scrub brush, on a slight ledge stuck out from the cliff side. With every movement she was only getting more tangled and caught.

Knowing she had one enemy above and one below (if that one survived) Karin struggled but the foliage of thorns and stickers stuck in her clothes. It felt as if she would get free of one only to deal with two more grabbing hold of her.

She scowled at the last thorn and gave a sharp yank to free her arm. Yet, once again she was faced with one of two options, either climb up or jump; given the circumstances, neither one appealed to her.

Looking down, the former Taka member, now weary beyond tears, beyond caring, reflected that it would be easier to lean out and fall.

"Gravity, I'm all yours," she whispered and released her grip, turned, spread out her arms, and leaned with the intent to let gravity, blessed gravity assist her in the long drop.

Just as she was resigned to the inevitable, her waist was wrapped by an unyielding strength which immediately stopped her intended plunge. Looking down she caught sight of a wiry navy blue clad arm clamped around her. Following the sleeve, she found herself being glared at by a no-nonsense eye. She didn't have time to protest for the steel grip around her midriff yanked causing the curse she was about to utter to turn into a lost grunt of breath instead. Within a heartbeat she was hoisted up and held close to his chest. She had only a second, but the one dark gray eye pierced hers with such ferocity she would have stepped away if she could have.

"I don't think so," said a smooth baritone in her ear.

The next thing she knew, air once again left her lungs in an undignified ' _oof'_ as she saw the far horizon spin past her in a dizzying whirl before landing stomach first on a hard muscled shoulder which again had her grunting in pain.

 _Soooo not gravity!_ Karin bared had time to note before being jounced up and down on the Leaf jounin's shoulder as he situated her more to his comfort.

Red hair flared out as Karen snapped her head around to glower at the masked ninja. "Watch it, Leaf! I'm not a sack of flour here!"

Maybe she had only imagined the implacable stare she had received only seconds ago, because now he was obviously smiling since his eye was crinkled up so she couldn't see it. _Definitely smiling_.

In response she hauled back to punch him but he easily snagged her smaller fist in a gloved hand, long fingers wrapping around hers in a tight hold.

"You must be feeling pretty wretched. You telegraphed that swing for so long I could have stopped for lunch."

Upon that remark, the Copy Ninja gracefully leapt up and over the side of the cliff. Upon landing a fair distance away from the edge (to discourage any further immediate suicide attempts) Kakashi lowered the runaway onto her feet. When she promptly collapsed to her knees, he looked at the edge considering and then scooped her up and carried even farther back.

Weakly she tried to struggle and cuss as he once again carefully lowered her to her feet but the silver-haired ninja kept hold of her while cutting off her protest, "You are in no shape to walk or run for that matter so please don't cause any more trouble."

She could feel the rumble in his chest as he warned her and the only thing Karin, to her utter horror and mortification, could do was let her head fall limp against his shoulder. She had never felt this tired in her whole life. Where was that vaunted Uzumaki " _life force_ " everyone always made so much of and was the pride of her clan?

A smile formed under the Copy Ninja's mask as he felt the prisoner he was propping up go limp in his embrace. There was no way that this escapee would be hot-footing it to the next country for a good long while. And if she was making plans already, he had a trick or two up his sleeve just in case.

Over his shoulder Kakashi called, "You coming Naruto?"

"Yeah, yeah, _ow, ow_ , landed and then got caught, _ouch_ , in this thorn bush. I'll be there in a sec," said a voice rising from over the edge. "I landed on a bush down here and… _Ow, ow, ow_. But no worries, _Ouch!_ I'm fine! _Ow!_ Dang!"

"Stop playing around and get up here!"

Karin managed to peer blearily over at the lip of the cliff. No sight of the colorful ninja outside of the colorful curses floating up over the rim.

The bright flash she had seen out of the corner of her eye earlier must have been him. Although the afterimage had seemed closer to that of a man on fire then an orange-clad shinobi teenager. What had happened and how had he kept from falling to his death as he had plunged past her?

Then, feeling warmer than she had in days, and strangely, safer, Karin Uzumaki wasn't able to form a coherent thought anymore and her head sank back down on Kakashi's chest as she passed out, sagging in his arms as he continued to hold her tight while waiting for Naruto.

"You okay?" he eyed the teen when the youth finally leaped up and over and next to him brushing at the debris snagged on his clothes.

"What?" Naruto stopped to tidy up by swiping at the leaves, twigs, and pieces of bark on his sleeves before turning his attention to the captured prisoner. In the process of removing pieces and bits he froze in place and stared.

"She _IS_ a redhead," stating the obvious as he finally inched closer to study the unconscious girl close up and in detail for the first time.

"Yes, most Uzumaki's are, and you should have noticed on the trip back to the village after fighting with Sasuke," Kakashi remarked dryly before tilting his head to get a look at her sleeping face.

Long sooty lashes above her cheeks and yet, even with dark circles under eyes the resemblance between her and Kushina Uzumaki was easy to see. It was then that he took note of the physical signs of exhaustion along with the smudges under her eyes, the sweat-tangled hair, the pale face, and drawn features. She was probably on her last legs and he doubted she would have been able to make it much further past this point.

" _I'm_ not, and you know I don't always remember people's faces."

Kakashi nodded, that was true. "Well, to be fair, both her parents were probably Uzumaki, and your father was a Namikaze. You resemble your father more than your mother except around the face a bit."

"I wonder why?"

"Genetics," Kakashi replied absently as he turned to leave but then tossed over his shoulder, "Or just plain sheer cussedness, who knows."

He started to move off saying, "Let's get away from here and find a decent place to camp. Even though she's almost too exhausted to move I don't want her to be tempted to go throwing herself off the cliff again."

Suddenly, Naruto was in his space with outstretched hands insisting, "I'll carry her!"

Kakashi studied him for a second and then nodded, "Okay. And when you get tired, we can switch."

Naruto turned and squatted so Kakashi could place the girl unto Naruto's back. Once the blonde got a good grip under her thighs and the silver-haired ninja arranged the young woman's arms over Naruto's shoulders, he stood back. The jinchuuriki stood with ease and stated, "I won't get tired."

"Right. What I _should_ have said was this, 'When you get to the point where you feel the need to relieve yourself of the deadweight of an emotionally unhinged, unstable, Orochimaru team player, suicidal, pissed Uzumaki kunoichi, then I'll take over'."

"Sometimes Kaka-sensei, you are so weird." The blonde youth started walking carefully back the way they had come.

"It's the hair. Everyone says so."

" _ **No**_ **one says so**!"

"Shhhh, you'll wake her up."

Naruto tilted his head to the side and looked out of the corner of his eye at his newly acquired sister, but all he could see was a glimpse of tangled red hair. "I don't think she's gonna wake up anytime soon," but he said it in a whisper, just in case.

"C'mon, let's get going. I spotted a place a couple miles back where we can set up camp."

With that, Kakashi and Naruto leaped up into the trees and soon the cliff's edge and surrounding vicinity returned back to nature's silence.

* * *

Except for the author who steps out from behind a tree, hastily scribbling notes.

Til next chapter then,

~Dwellin


	6. Chapter 6

All things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I'd be jealous if I didn't have such a sweet disposition.

* * *

 **Chapter** **6**

* * *

Little by little, Karin felt herself rising out of a dream state. Groggily, she wondered where she was but then decided she didn't care. What was making itself known was an unpleasantly pressing need for bladder relief. Reality, the ultimate wake up call.

When finally at a state of awareness, she realized every nerve in her body was feeling the sensation of pins and needles. _Delightful_. Between the that and the bladder issue it was obvious that she wasn't going to be getting any more sleep so she might as well give up the attempt.

As she rose to different levels of awareness, the young woman became conscious of a blanket covering her and a few layers of soft material underneath her. A fire was crackling near her and she could hear the occasional pop or sizzle along with an odor of pine-scented smoke filling the…Karin cracked open a lid to verify, yes it was dark so…night air then. One side of her face registered the radiating heat, warming one side of her body while the other was left cool. Ah, the many perks of camping.

The redhead resisted the pressing urge, willing it to go away because she would rather go back to sleep, but a certain persistent organ resisted her mental command.

That's when she took note of the low murmur of voices. Listening in, she hoped to learn something about her fate.

"Are you sure no one is near us? How do you know?" asked a bright, cheery voice. Oh, it was him, of the warm, fuzzy chakra. Still, there was that sniff of darkness underneath.

It was easy to tell which one was the host of the demon fox. Although right at the moment she wasn't sensing too much of anything; it was as if her sensor ability was numbed out from acute and severe fatigue and chakra depletion.

"Oh, you know that idea of yours about sending them out in another direction?"

The blonde boy must have nodded as there wasn't a reply and the older ninja kept talking.

"Did you really think it would work?"

"Well…"

"Think about it this way, outside of pranks, have you ever been known for pulling off schemes that would cause others to believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are in possession of higher-level intel?"

There was a pause.

"And, that you also know how to use such knowledge to your advantage like, oh let's say, someone from the Nara clan for instance."

"Aw shaddup," came the grumbled reply.

There was a pause but this time it was coming from the silver-haired man.

"I get ideas too ya know!" the voice now asserted.

"Of course you do, but in the meantime, before starting on another mission, I had the nin-pack take the sheet from her bunk, then cut up into shreds, and sent them out to mark a trail that would make it seem like it was hers. It would lead them in the opposite direction, toward Suna, and other lands, just to back you up."

"But, but,… why would _you_ do that?"

"Actually, that's not important right now. What I want to talk to you about is this whole adoption thing."

"Yep, that's what I'm gonna do!" Now the voice sounded bright and cheerful again.

"Have you thought this through?"

Karin wondered what they could be talking about adopting, a kitten maybe, or a puppy? He couldn't be old enough to adopt a kid; he was younger than she was. _Leaf nin, all wound up weird in different directions. After all, Orochimaru was from their village, which goes to prove my point._

"Don't need to think about it. I'm gonna adopt her as my sister and we're gonna be a family!"

"Er Naruto, what if she doesn't want to be adopted?"

 _Yeah_ , thought Karin, _who could possibly want to live with energy that reeked of chakra ranging from sof_ _t_ _and cuddly to frothing_ _-_ _at_ _-_ _the mouth psycho?_ She would like to meet that person.

"Besides, she and I have the same last name already! It only makes sense seeing as there aren't many of us left from the Whirlpool clan."

"True, not many who bear the name 'Uzumaki'.

 _Who could he be…."_ Karin nearly swallowed her tongue. _Her_?! He wanted to adopt _her_?! That was impossible, ridiculous, stupid, and…and… the whiskered freak must be out of his bleeding mind! Besides _she_ was older than _him_ , if anyone was going to do any adopting around here it should be _**her!**_

She was just about to roll over to yell graphic insults at him when the silver-haired ninja asked, "Ready to join us Karin Uzumaki?"

"What, she's awake?" She heard feet bounding toward her and suddenly feeling vulnerable, sat up and pushed the blankets off her, preparing to… do what exactly? She was in no condition to battle a mouse.

"Oh, she's been awake for a while now listening to our conversation."

"But why? We're not gonna hurt her."

The blonde Uzumaki squatted down next to her with hands dangling over his knees as he surveyed the girl's suspicious glower which was a little unfocused and vague until she found her glasses and jammed them on her face. Then the glower got specific and aimed in the right direction.

Two impossibly bright blue eyes beamed at her over a huge, warm smile. It was unnerving to the Sound kunoichi. Friendly acceptance practically shone from every pore in his face. He was also inches away as if the idea of personal space was only a mere suggestion not meant to be taken seriously.

If she were honest with herself, Karin would have noted that the action was reminiscent of her own behavior; people had hinted that she wasn't noted for respecting boundary lines either. Still, she leaned back from the intense searching look. Friendly was a foreign concept to her.

"I'm sure she has a hard time believing you after all the criminal types she has had to live with over the years," Kakashi remarked dryly. "And you might want to back up a bit, seeing as she seems a mite skittish."

Naruto was still staring deeply into Karin's eyes, causing her to lean away from him. Yes, she was definitely feeling a little crowded here. Also the thought arose that for the first time since losing her last living parent, someone was actually seeing her, the real her, not the persona projected to the world every day of her life. If that was so, he would be the first and it was making her exceedingly uncomfortable.

"Naruto," Kakashi cautioned again, "girls don't like it when guys they are unsure of get in their personal space."

Naruto looked over his shoulder, turning those huge blue eyes away from Karin (which was a relief) over to Kakashi for a moment thinking about what his former sensei had said. Then it sunk in. Whipping his head back, the blonde laughed sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. "Heh, heh, sorry about that Sis!"

"Ss..ssis?" She stuttered out, at how preposterous this situation was getting. "I…I'm an only child! An orphan!" she insisted.

"Not anymore!" Naruto practically crowed, making her wince. His cheerful blue eyes were shining with excitement. "This is gonna be great! Two orphans who are now family!"

"But.. but…" feeling very out of her depth, Karin looked over to Kakashi waiting for him to jump in and stop the madness, unaware she wore an expression that clearly communicated: _'Is he insane!?'_

Kakashi watched her from under a half-lowered eyelid before giving a shrug and dropping his eye to stare down at the fire.

This was an interesting development and he wasn't sure how it would fit in with other plans in the works. Even if he accepted this, it was doubtful that it would be received among the Konoha leadership with anything remotely resembling approval. But it sounded like he wasn't the only one with reservations about this impending sibling graft. He looked up again upon hearing her voice protesting vehemently.

"You.. you can't just _decide_ something like that on your own! And besides a kid your age can't go around adopting other people as siblings without their say-so, especially when they are the ones who are older! It's just not done!"

"Well, I've decided that it is, so it's now it's a thing!"

Wide red eyes stared at him with mouth dropping open in disbelief before turning to the silver-haired man whose shoulders were beginning to shake.

Pointing a finger at the blonde Uzumaki, she turned to frown at the Copy Ninja asking incredulously, " **Is he serious!? Tell me he's not serious!** "

Upon being the recipient of her outraged glare, Kakashi ducked his head down and hunched his shoulders. At times like these it was best to make oneself as small of a target as possible, especially when the desire to laugh was becoming overwhelming. He was a jounin dammit and this wasn't funny! He shot a quick glance at the two who were now confronting each other, both with lowered brows and bottom lips stuck out in twin expressions. No, he was wrong, this was definitely funny!

Tamping down the desire to chuckle Kakashi scratched the fabric covering his cheek while quickly collecting himself. He was older and more mature and should be setting an example, and then shrugged slightly thinking, _W_ _hy start now_?

A grin spread across his face and he was suddenly glad his face was covered and head lowered. Finally, he put on an indifferent expression and then looked up to find two sets of Uzumaki eyes watching him.

 _Time to get it together_ _, Kakashi._ "When he says it like that, it's a done deal. You might as well get used to calling him 'brother'," explained Kakashi as he stood, and reached arms up overhead in a stretch before heading over to his own bedroll which was already laid out.

"You're up for watch first Naruto."

"Right!"

Karin thought about devising a plan to trick the blonde and then make a break for it. That barely formed thought was derailed as her bladder took that moment to repeated the demand of earlier and it meant _now_ instead of _later_.

"ARGH!" she yelled and leaped up; or at least that was intent. Instead she teetered forward and would have fallen flat on her face if Naruto hadn't been there to catch her, keeping her from doing a face plant into the ground.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt, wounded, bleeding, sick or…" he jerked her up and down in search of any injuries.

"Sstoopp! Sshhaaakkiinnn! Mmee!" Karin's voice shuddered with every jerk.

When the worried visage in front of her stopped vibrating, or maybe it was just her own brain still sloshing around inside her skull, she waited until her feet were on the ground again and then leaned forward.

When Karin was nearly nose to nose with him she snarled into his face, "WHAT THE HELL'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?! Were you dropped on your head as a pup or Something?!"

Then her face did an abrupt change as that which was urgent reminded her of what was a priority. The female sensor tried to break away and turn, but the kyuubi host had a rock hard grip locked onto her biceps. Imitating a rubber band, Karin stretched and pulled away before being forced to bounce back, the end result was the two of them slamming noses.

"Agh! Yamn! Ow, ow, ah! My noz!" Naruto dropped his hold on her and bent over grabbing his nose with both hands, muffling his cries of pain.

"Agh! Youble yamn! Fab hurb, you ibiob!" Tears sprang unbidden at the sharp pain. Quickly she squeezed them shut while bending over also.

It wasn't but seconds before the two had straightened and while holding their respective noses began yelling in the other's face.

Kakashi watched them for a moment and wisely opted not to chuckle despite the scene being played out in front of him. Priceless, and him without a camera.

He watched without concern when Karin, suddenly dropping her hold on her nose, spun around and stumbled for the edge of the tree line. He was pretty sure the rest of it was going to play out like-

"Heyb!" Realizing that trying to talk with his hand on his nose and blocking his mouth was hindering him from sounding serious, Naruto dropped his hand to restate, "Hey! Are you trying to escape?!"

"Yes, you dolt, I am!" Karin yelled back over her shoulder, "You've caught on to my brilliant plan! I'll leap into the bushes where I'll pee my way to freedom and no one can stop me! Haaa haa haaa!" She stopped, scowled from under a deep frown, and informed him, "You are an idiot. I. Have. To. Pee. Don't make me break out the sock puppets to explain this."

The blonde youth cheeks burned a brilliant red and turned wide, pleading eyes on Kakashi, silently looking for a little input from someone who had, oh say a million, missions under his belt.

Naruto studied the top of his former sensei's silver head watching he suddenly became totally engrossed with reading the ever so familiar orange book that had suddenly appeared in his hands like magic when, a moment ago, he had been empty-handed. The silver-haired jounin leisurely turned a page.

He finally gave in and asked, "Kakashi? A little help?"

"No, no, you're doing fine, keep up the good work young 'Hokage-in-training'."

Naruto jerked his thumb over his shoulder, "How we gonna keep her from running off?"

"How indeed."

Here Naruto, feeling the quiet behind his back that was more absence of someone's presence than mere stillness, turned to find-

"She's gone!"

Kakashi pointed a finger over the top of the book.

Naruto followed the direction of his finger and found it pointing at a very large bush.

The orange-clad youth stared at it for a moment and swiveled back to Kakashi and whispered, "Behind that?"

"Would you?"

"No."

"I doubt she would either."

There was a beat before the whiskered youth whispered again, "So probably a little further out then?"

"One can only hope."

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?" Naruto gave Kakashi a quizzical look and then asked, "And how can we tell when she's done?"

"Well, she's not going to ring a bell."

"So what should I do, go look?"

"Not at the moment, if I were you. Give her a couple of minutes. Girls are kinda sensitive about their special time with the great outdoors, so don't be a stalker."

"I'M NOT A STALKER!" He glowered at his former teacher daring him to accuse him further. Seeing that Kakashi was immersed in his reading Naruto crossed his arms and tapped his foot. It didn't seem to be making any impression as the sound of another page turned was the only thing heard in the silence of the camp.

Finally, he asked, "Well?"

"Well what?" Kakashi chuckled at something he found amusing, read for a bit longer and then turned another page. Naruto watched, lip out, arms folded across his chest radiating righteous indignation with eyes narrowed at his former sensei. Seeing nothing was happening from Kakashi's end, he said, "Well, we'll just see about this!"

The blonde looked over his shoulder and called out in a loud voice, "Izn't that right Sis!? Huh? Right!?" Turning back to the jounin he said, "When she comes out, we'll just see who the stalker….."

"She's gone."

"Huh?"

Kakashi stood up, stretched again and pocketed his book. "Have to give her credit though. Even now, she's doing her best to hide her chakra signature, but she's only seconds away. You want to go get her or should I?"

"I'll go," the blonde grumbled, heading for the bush, but stopped short and then started to go around it, just in case. He had no desire to step in any wet spots.

"Wait a second," Kakashi called out behind him, stopping Naruto in his tracks, "Come to think of it, I'm better at night tracking so I be able to find her quicker. You stay, get more logs and start on the (and here I cannot emphasize this enough) _easy_ _-to-make_ dinner packs. All you have to do is follow the directions on the back, which I trust you will do this time."

Naruto looked to one side, then up, and finally to the other in faked nonchalance, all the while whistling tunelessly.

"Oookay," he finally agreed, but added more confidently, "But call me if you need help!"

"Like that'll happen," muttered Kakashi as he took to the trees.

* * *

This was a fun chapter to write.

Next time

~Dwellin


	7. Chapter 7

Remember, what I don't knows, I makes up, that's the beauty of being a fanfic author.

All things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto and not to Dwellin.

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

* * *

Karin straightened from her bent position and leaned a hand on the rough bark of the tree where she had just finishing vomiting on its knotted roots. Wiping a sleeve across her mouth she took that moment to catch her breath. The flight to freedom was not going as well as one could've hoped.

Nearby she could hear water lightly splashing against large rocks. From the sounds, it had to be only a few yards away. If she could follow it out of the Land of Fire she would have drinking water and even a source of food.

"Yuck," she breathed softly. Her bolting off had been cut short by the overwhelming urge of her body to forcefully eject everything on the inside of her to the outside.

Taking in a shaky breath Karin glanced around at the inky depths of the forest and even though she couldn't make out much, grim reality told her that she hadn't gone as far as she would have liked before being violently sick. With a sinking feeling she thought, _I probably only made it a few scraggily bushes and a handful of trees away from camp. This has gotta be the most pitiful escape ever!_

It was hard to gauge how far she had come in the dark but it was highly doubtful that the distance achieved had thrown her new friends off the scent or would discourage them from following. Oh yeah, she had quite the crazy-quick disappearing ninja skills.

Falling to her knees because suddenly trembling legs refused to hold her upright any longer, the runaway took a deep breath and, making sure to avoid all the messy ick in the process, began crawling to the stream.

Upon reaching the water's edge, she collapsed on her belly. The red-haired woman cursed the fact that even that bit of exertion had worn her out. She reached back and grabbed her hair and pulled it out the way before palming water over her face and finally rinsing out her mouth. Only then did she begin gulping down mouthful after mouthful to slake her thirst. When finished, Karin was disheartened to find that while her thoughts were clearer she was just as weak as before.

After rising and sitting back Karin began to ponder the next move in the grand getaway plan. Obviously it all depended upon kinks in the plan; kinks of the troublesome, two-legged variety that is. _If_ they couldn't catch up in the next couple of minutes her opinion of at least one of them being the shinobi worlds' elite ninja was going to take a nose dive. And wouldn't _that_ just hurt his feelings!

"Yo! Were you able to get that sour taste out of your mouth?" A voice spoke from behind her causing her to stiffen.

She wondered what the repercussions were for a failed escape attempt and how the Leaf nin punished their runaway escapees. Surely this time they would torture or punish her. Then she did an inner shudder upon remembering some of Orochimaru's punishments but quickly squelched the thought. It wasn't helping. However, it didn't stop the thread of dismay and panic running through her before she managed to tamp that down also.

Gathering her courage, Karin looked over shoulder noting that the famous Copy Ninja was standing close enough that the outline of his form could be distinguished from that of the uniform darkness of the trees surrounding them. She sniffed and pushed up her glasses.

"Oh thank Kami you found me! Your tracking skills are beyond amazing! Not just _any_ ninja could follow a hundred-yard pee and barf trail!"

Despite the sarcasm Kakashi watched as the girl's shoulders visibly sagged with relief. He had seen a few people over the years suffering from chakra burnout. Obviously the kunoichi had known she was going to be caught and was secretly relieved she had been. He doubted at this point she had the strength to even think about running.

He walked over, crouched down next to the worn out Uzumaki and said, "Now that we have the obligatory first escape attempt out of the way, let's head back, shall we?"

Karin flapped a hand at him, "Thanks for the concern but no, you go, I'm good right here. Don't think I can do more than crawl anyway, so…"

The next thing she knew, he reached over, scooped up her up and turned back in the direction of the camp. He had lifted her as easily as if lifting a pillow! She made a mental note: no close quarters fighting with this ninja!

"Right," Kakashi said, and she could hear the humor lacing his voice. "Not to worry, yet again I'll carry you. After all, we can't have you wandering around in the dark in this condition."

Startled she looked up to find that crinkled eye aimed at her with what appeared to be a bit of an impish gleam to it or maybe what she thought she saw was just a trick of the dark. Whatever it was, it was disconcerting, this strange hinted at smile hidden behind a mask.

Instead of punishment, she was on the receiving end of someone who seemed more concerned about her welfare rather than punishing her for trying to get away. What she wasn't expecting was humor.

Karin narrowed her eyes, unsure of what to make of the deceptively mild manner of dealing with a captured enemy; it had to be a ploy of some kind! Deviously clever! It wasn't something she, herself, would ever have thought of.

"And you should be more careful," his low voice broke in on her thoughts, making her start and look up.

That lone eye fixed on her again and for no reason she could think of, made her feel out of sorts. In a huff she crossed her arms and turned her face away.

"I don't need anyone to worry about me and I also don't need to be carried, I am…"

"About to fall on your face," he finished for her. "Obviously you have never suffered from the danger of extreme chakra burn-out. I suppose being from one of the only ninja clans that had more chakra and life force flowing through them than one could shake a kunai at; you wouldn't. Well, the rest of us not so gifted have suffered from this at least once in our lives. It's not fun, but you'll recover."

Karin went still. Of course she had heard of it and he was right, she had never gone through this particular aspect of using one's chakra up to the brink of total physical systems collapse.

"I'm just surprised you got this far." This time his attention wasn't on her but on winding through the trees and brush. She couldn't help but be impressed with his silent passage, quiet as a ghost in the murky darkness pressing in about them. Brushing aside her bangs, the recaptured prisoner took the opportunity to scrutinize him without him noticing (hopefully).

As he walked Kakashi was wrapped in his thoughts until her voice, strangely calm, broke through, "I expected the loud one would be with you."

Karin could feel the deep chuckle reverberate in his chest before he answered, "Oh, I did start to send him before wisdom prevailed. Upon finding you, especially in so critical a condition, he would have grabbed you up in a joyful, sister-loving, bone-crushing hug. I saved you from that bit of unpleasantness so you owe me. And I also saved him from being deceived, which he doesn't need right now."

There was a silence for a beat or two as she stared up at the weird shadows above her in the leafy canopy overhead. It amazed her that Kakashi was able to navigate through the forest with such graceful ease even in the darkness.

Still ill at ease, she asked, "So, what do you think? Is he really serious about this adoption thing or is that just another devious Konoha ploy?" Not that she expected the truth. The life of a ninja didn't lend itself much in the way of truth-telling.

Here Kakashi could feel her stiffen in his arms bracing for the answer as she continued with weary bravado, "Because if it is, I'll have you know that I'm immune to…"

Kakashi entered the small clearing and began walking toward her bedroll and stated the obvious, "We're here,"

"Immune to what?" asked Naruto in a loud, brash voice.

"Anything that requires considerable reflection before action," replied the jounin with light humor evident in his smooth baritone voice as he kneeled down and gently deposited his burden on her blankets.

The former warden still expected some form of punishment. A lip came out in a stubborn pout and stared up at the two ninja from Leaf standing over her. _I'm ready! Bring it on nin-boys!_ Her resolve was, well, resolved.

The blonde Leaf was studying her with an odd look and she tensed, waiting to hear what he had to say.

"Want a S'more?"

Naruto leaned down and thrust a brown square at her smelling of chocolate and burnt sugar, shaking and wagging it in her face before holding it still. Her eyes crossed trying to focus on the strange Leaf food being offered to her. It may have taken her eyes a second or two to adjust, but her stomach was light years ahead of her sense of sight and immediately demanded she take it.

"A.. what?" A puzzled frown formed as she scrutinized the square food in his hand mouth already salivating.

"A ' _S'more_ '. They're treats we make whenever we're on a mission; well, not _before_ the mission, but something for afterwards as a reward for a ' _job well done'_."

Karin eyed the melting, tantalizing mess in his hand with nose twitching and had to admit that it did look sumptuous and smelled even better. Delicately she reached up and took the gooey, sticky confection from his hand and then lifted it up to her nose and deeply inhaled with eyes closed in bliss.

"Well, just a bite, you know, to make sure it's not poisoned." God these Konoha nin were devious! Warm chakras, smiles, laughter, concern for her health, absence of beatings or lack of mistreatment of any kind, and now delicious food stuffs being shoved in one's face. Would the cruelty never end?

From around a mouthful of graham cracker, chocolate, and marshmallow, she stated, "And listen here leaf-breath, I'm _not_ the reason for a 'job-well-done'!" With each word graham cracker crumbs spewed out in all directions.

Then her eyes rolled in bliss "These are great! To die for! So worth it! Okay, what do you want to know? I'll tell you everything. Let's see, here's a few I can think of off the top of my head: Kimimaro's disdain of all yellow vegetables, Oh, and did you know he had an absolutely phobia of rabbits? Rabbits, I tell you! The mammal voted least likely to stalk a human. And Kabuto has a habit of clicking his teeth when thinking! Highly irritating, nearly drove me mad when I was forced to work for him." She finished by licking and sucking on her fingers and then looked up questioningly at Naruto and asked, "Got any more of these?"

Kakashi's eye widened as he mentally absorbed and catalogued the odd tidbits for later pondering that had just gushed out of the escapee. Most likely it was all rubbish information, but one never knew what little thing could be useful later on. When they were back, he would put it all down in his mission report. Still, these were strange enough personal things that one didn't get to read about in the bingo books.

"Really though, was that the only one?" Her voice was laced with disappointment even as she leaned to the side to peer around the two sets of legs blocking her view of the campfire. Red eyes did a quick search before she straightened to look up at them with the obvious disappointment of a nonverbal " _That's it_?!"

Naruto stared at the redhead in surprise; that was the swiftest conversion of a new S'more fanatic he had ever seen. He started to open his mouth to comment until Kakashi elbowed him in the side.

"Naruto, I think that means she likes them." Then dropping his eye down to their female charge he asked, "Got any more gossip for us?"

"Only if I get more 'S'mores…OH, _that's_ why it's called that!" Karin chuckled lightly and Naruto laughed along with at her visible pleasure of having figured it out.

"So that means our cook should whip up… S'more". But both Uzumaki's turned and gave him blank looks. He rubbed the back of his neck. Tough crowd.

Kakashi lifted his nose and sniffed the air before drifting over to the fire. Something was close to being done.

For Naruto, who had turned his attention back to his sister, it was the first time seeing her face looking anything other than angry, exhausted or careworn. A smile totally changed her appearance and he was resolved to make sure there were many more times in her life that she had a chance to laugh and smile.

"So, you've never had a S'more before?" grinned the blond youth before returning to the fire to make her another one.

"No, never." She shook her head in emphasis, the sides of her long red hair flipping about her face. "If I had known Konoha had this though I might have defected to them instead of following Sasuke-dummy."

The mention of Sasuke's name brought an immediate change in the mood of the camp. Both men watched as a morose change came over Karin. She crossed her arms as she stared at the ground. The dramatic change of attitude was such that even Naruto paused in sliding a marshmallow onto a stick.

Kakashi shot his former pupil a glance and saw that he too had frozen for a heartbeat before turning to match gazes with him. A look of understanding passed between them before they went back to their activities acting as if nothing had happened.

Kakashi went to check the dinner because he didn't trust that his partner had read the directions even when asked to do so, while Naruto, continued to slide marshmallows onto the stick he had sharpened earlier.

The jounin crouched next to the fire, lifted the lid of the pot and stirred before casually asking, "You were going to defect?"

"Well, yeah, after I heard Orochimaru was killed, I was kind of at loose ends as to what to do with myself. Stay there and guard prisoners nobody wanted guarded, or leave. Then, well you know who showed up and gave me a different option."

She shrugged, looked down and pushed up her glasses, eyes locked on Naruto. "What else was I going to do? I only stayed with the organization because I owed Orochimaru for taking me in. I'm not super fond of anyone else there and I certainly wasn't going to work for Kabuto!" She affected a shudder at the thought, but even so, her eyes followed Naruto's every move as he went through the process of making her another one of her new favorite food group, "S'more for me".

* * *

It's that time of year, snow falling, sledding, tinsel, hot cocoa, and wreaths! I'm feeling jolly so I might post another chapter in a couple of days. Fa la la la la.

~Dwellin


	8. Chapter 8

Q: How many Kakashi keychains can I attach to my key chain?

A: "never enough".

All things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto and not to Dwellin.

* * *

Chapter 8

* * *

Karin woke up the next morning feeling happy. At least, she suspected that's what the odd sensation she was feeling right then must be. 'Happy' was a foreign concept in her life and this unfamiliar feeling which she could only describe as an odd, warm 'light as a feather' soft thing fluffing about inside her. _Yeah, fluffy. That's a good word for it._

Although, she could also be coming down with the flu, except she wasn't getting any sicker even after waking up feeling this way several mornings in a row.

C _ould be some strange form of constipation_. One thing she did know was that she was intimately acquainted with unhappy and this odd thing certainly wasn't it.

 _This is weird._

However this was morning was the first time where her mind felt less foggy and clear enough to form coherent thoughts. Her brow wrinkled with the effort she put into puzzling this mystery out.

Hastily she went down a mental list; she was warm and had eaten well at every meal. The crown of her whole day though was after dinner. She had become accustomed to bolting down so many S'mores it should have left her in a diabetic coma. Then for further evidence, she had been having the first deep, truly restful sleep since when she had been a young child. It was also amazing not to have nightmares for the first time in years. It was a relief and creepy at the same time.

Meanwhile, here they were out on the fringe edges of nowhere near the Fire Country border. The process of her chakra being replenished naturally would take longer to return to normal since it wasn't being helped along by any type of medical care. It would take a week or so to get anywhere near serviceable, but she didn't have time to lounge around waiting. This was the second point of irritation for her, the waiting.

Karin was suspicious. Normal protocol for any mission was that when the team had succeeded or failed, they would make a hurried return to whatever hidden village the team was from. Yet neither one of these Leaf nin appeared to be concerned about escorting the recaptured prisoner back as soon as possible,

The way these two males acted; and here she darted a quick glance from under eyelashes at them, was definitely out of the norm, instead it was like they were on some kind of vacation. (Not that she had ever been on one, but she'd heard stories.) They had been at the same place for days upon days now. This was no way to run a mission!

When she didn't think they noticed, red eyes obscured by lowered lashes watched as the two men unpacked food and supplies needed for the day that were being kept in scrolls. If she ever, EVER managed to sneak away from her newfound and unlooked for family, she would steal that idea and use it herself! If at all possible, Karin hoped to abscond with a scroll or two. No worries _then_ about supply shortages!

Without realizing it, a sly grin crossed her face. Unbeknownst to her, Kakashi had watched her waking up process every morning and didn't miss the expression this morning. _Ah, someone is contemplating her escape again._ Then he saw her face twitch into disgust or consternation, he couldn't be sure which one it was.

Karin grimaced; being here was like attending some kind of bizarre summer camp for shinobi! Or, maybe, and here she narrowed her eyes darting quick looks at them from under lowered lashes again, this was a form of torture-of-niceness previously unknown by other hidden villages.

Then there were the ghost stories told by the one least affected by scary tales, that had both Uzumaki's glancing uneasily over their shoulders into the dark forest and at times bunching up shoulder to shoulder for the rest of the evening. She frowned while chewing on her lip. Who _were_ these people?

"How are we feeling this morning, princess?"

Karin turned her sleepy red eyes to see the masked ninja lift the lid to the pot hanging over the small fire and sniff. Did he _sleep_ in that mask? How sanitary could that be?

Then she sniffed, nose rising at the tantalizing aroma. Breakfast! Who cared about the mask!

"SIS! You're awake! Good morning!"

An orange blur flew across the camp and the next thing the redhead knew, she was being swept up in a tight embrace with blanket thrown off and feet flying off the ground to swing around in an arc. The scenery sped past her in crazy green and brown streaks.

Curses filled her mouth along with demands to be set down, but they were muffled against an orange jacket. Thankfully, he set her down after only a few twirls whereupon she promptly slugged him. Or, she would have but being dizzy, swung, missed and fell on her butt.

Propped back on her arms and glaring up at the blonde jinchuuriki, she snarled, "Too damn cheerful, that's your problem!"

"Someone woke up all grumpy," a mellow voice remarked. "Are you always filled with this much sunshine and sweetness in the morning? Want some tea?"

Naruto smiled down at his newly acquired sibling and stretched out his hand. Secretly grateful for the assist, Karin took it and let him pull her upright. Then dusting off her shirt before sniffing the air she asked, "Got any coffee?"

"Er, no, just tea."

"Again with the brown water. That's your breakfast of champions? Well, guess it can't be helped."

Seeing Karin starting to move slowly in his direction, Kakashi, instead of meeting her halfway, watched with practiced indifference, hiding the fact that he was gauging her movements.

He knew right away that if she was this bad off then he or Naruto would end up having to carry her on their backs if they wanted to make good time on the return. Good thing they didn't have to and also good thing weren't expected back right away. He suppressed a grin, in fact it was just the opposite, they had been ordered to take their time and wander back slowly.

"Geez Kakashi," Naruto grumped as he bounded over to Kakashi to snatch the mug out of his hand. He gave his former sensei a sour look and then took several long strides back to the red-haired girl's side.

With a huge pleased grin, he handed it to her and then helped her over to a log-stool by her bedroll which had mysteriously appeared one morning previously. Upon awakening and seeing it her question had been: "Lovely, lawn furniture. What's next, a dinette set?"

Lifting the cup to her nose, she sniffed wishing she had a good, strong cup of coffee instead.

Then like every morning, she asked, "We leaving today?" while watching the steam rising from the mug.

"A day or so more," responded Kakashi, repeating what he had said every morning previously.

Karin looked up with the mug halfway to her mouth to pin him with a disillusioned stare. His black eye disappeared in a smile crease before he turned his attention back to stirring.

Having been trained by her own ability as a sensor to tell when someone else was lying, Karin didn't need to rely on her ability to know that there was something going on that she wasn't being told. Whereas before she hadn't been able to sense anything, she was pleasantly surprised to realize that a little thread of something was coming through. He was prevaricating, but that was no surprise. He was a ninja and that's just what they did.

 _But what does it mean for me? Devious Leaf! What do they want,_ _ **more**_ _information!? Break me down in some way? Of course,_ she thought tiredly, _if they keep feeding me S'mores, I'll probably end up telling them Orochimaru's sandal-size. And really, at this point, what does it matter?_

"What _else_ do you want to know?" she asked groggily before taking a cautious sip of her tea. Tea? For breakfast? They were all heathens. At least when she had still been a guest of the Konoha prison they had permitted her to have coffee with breakfast and lunch.

"Nothing," Kakashi replied.

"Nothing?! That's kind of hard to believe," she gave a soft snort to express her disdain. Oh these Konoha shinobi were devious indeed! They probably had some cunning, hidden plan up their sleeve.

"Nope, not really. Whatever you want to talk about, we're here to listen."

"Yeah, Sis, no torture, no pressure, just whatever and whenever you got something to say," he hurried on seeing her mouth open in reply, "And if you don't want to, that's fine too."

Karin leaped to her feet and jabbed an accusatory arm at both men by pointing her finger first at one and then other before waving it back and forth between the two in her growing agitation.

"OH hell no! I am _so_ not falling for that! The whole, 'Let's make friends with the prisoner and she'll blurt out everything!' ploy! As if you lot were a bunch of cuddly-bear therapists! And don't be looking at each other like you don't know what I'm talking about! I'll have you know…" the words came to sudden halt when she tipped forward.

Thankfully, a set of arms caught her while the other grabbed the mug out of her hand, keeping her from falling into face first into the dirt and then set her back on the log. She gave Naruto a nervous smile before realizing it and immediately changed it to a scowl. One did not thank the enemy for doing one any favors!

"You know, if we really wanted to know something, we would just feed you S'mores," pointed out Kakashi.

 _Damn, what kind of kunoichi am I that I can be bribed with food even if it_ **is** _the food of the gods?_ But what really made her angry was the fact that they knew it too.

From under spiked bangs, Karin watched as Kakashi returned to the fire and refilled her mug from the teapot hanging next to the larger pot which she assumed was breakfast. Naruto sat down next to her.

"You okay Sis?"

"Just peachy," she answered sullenly and then accepted the mug from Kakashi before he moved back to the other side of the fire.

When the fire was tended to his satisfaction, he moved off into the brush. When the silver-haired ninja returned, he was carrying a few more logs which he arranged around the fire. Were they expecting company?

That was when she noticed another new addition of a tarp set up off to the side of the camp, obviously in case it rained. Just how long were they going to be staying here? Would they be planting flowers next, install a lawn sprinkler, maybe a gazebo?

"Well troops, today is a big day."

Both of the young people looked up to find Kakashi beaming at them with the happy scrunched up eye smile. As Naruto knew from experience, a joyful looking Kakashi was one to be cautious of; even Karin had learned that in her short time of being around the two Leaf nin. She narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion.

"What do you mean Kaka-sensei?" Naruto asked warily, head tipped to the side inquiringly.

"Today is…" Kakashi held up a finger as both sets of eyes riveted on him, "bath day!"

Deafening silence met his announcement.

After a moment, Karen inquired, "What day?" Maybe this was an example of Leaf humor.

"Why do I need a bath?" Naruto huffed indignantly.

"It's warm and the sun is shining, perfect day for a bath!"

Where? Where exactly was this so-called 'sun' shining? She looked up; yes it was daylight but only the thinnest of sunbeam shafts made it through the canopy overhead to fall and dapple the forest floor beneath.

"Oh really?" Lowering her attention back to the immediate problem, she demanded with eyes still narrowed, waiting for the other shoe to fall, "All of us?"

"Of course!"

"Oh hell no!" she spat out. Of course, she wouldn't mind seeing _them_ in the buff (she wasn't an idiot), but no one was going to see _her_ in that state, not while she had a breath left in her!

"Hey, you're not planning something perverted, are you Kaka-sensei?"

Karin could feel Naruto tensing beside her.

She didn't want to admit it, but he of the hidden face might have a point. She lowered her nose and inhaled deeply, then made a face. Okay so maybe the insane Copy Bath Ninja was right. She did smell more than a bit gamey and overripe.

"Uhm, maybe a bath wouldn't be such a bad idea," she started, looking up to glare at the older man with distrustful look, "because it has been days and I'm not gonna pretend I smell fresh as a daisy, but that's a big 'Hell No!' if you think I'm gonna bathe with the two of you."

"Oh no," Kakashi responded, humor lacing his tone while lifting up hands palms toward them, "Not at all. What would the neighbors think?"

On cue, both Uzumaki's looked at each other as if to confirm that they both agreed that the jounin was a complete loon. Then Naruto smiled, "might as well, even if Kaka-sensei is a little weird at times, but you know, he does mean well."

"Hey, I don't need someone like you vouching for me like I'm some kind of pervert…" Kakashi stopped. Two sets of eyes, one bright blue and another deep red, latched onto him waiting for his next words. "Right. Well, here it is. You two stink, I stink, our clothes stink, so we are going take today to bathe and wash our clothes."

They kept staring. Wash clothes? Bathing was not something that was required on missions, but washing clothes while on the move and camping out? Unheard of! Even if they had been staying put for days.

Karin turned to look at her newfound "sibling" and asked, "Is he always like this? "

"No," Naruto answered, obviously in thought as he scratched a cheek. "Not that I know of anyway."

Kakashi gave him a flat stare as Naruto squinted up at him, "You feeling okay Kaka-sensei?"

"Would you even know if I weren't?"

"See," said Naruto looking back to Karin, "just natural weird."

"Yes, I see that," she agreed with a nod. She looked up from under her lashes at the jounin with a critical eye.

"I don't need to be judged by you two imps, now take off your clothes and hand them over."

Karin pushed her glasses at the corner of her frames, studying the silver-haired man standing in front of them, and challenged, "You first!"

"Okay."

Karin almost got an eyeful before Naruto slapped his hands over her face, knocking off her glasses while dragging her out of the camp with her protesting every step of the way.

* * *

I never know what to say at the end, despite the fact I can type for chapters upon chapters of conversation between fictional characters.

~Dwellin


	9. Chapter 9

All things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Dwellin just sublets his world.

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

* * *

Karin tripped, growled out a curse and then readjusted her grip on the waist of the loaner pants she had been given. Even with the bottom edges rolled up they still dragged along the ground. Several times she had tripped already that morning.

On top of that, she had dressed hurriedly without drying off causing her clothes to stick to her uncomfortably. On top of that, when she ran the one free hand available over her wet hair, she could feel snarls and knew it was going to be a battle to get them untangled.

Tripping a second time, she snarled under her breath, "Stupid damn pants! Leaf nin-jerk-heads!"

Despite the fact that the previous day both Uzumaki's had managed to talk the jounin into putting off the intended bath and wash day, it had only been a reprieve of a mere twenty-four hours. She didn't have long to try and hatch an escape plan.

Even with only one visible eye Kakashi had pinpointed the two with a firm, unbending stare, letting them both know that this was going to happen. He then insisted they hand over their clothes. Neither Uzumaki had dared to protest when he thrust clean clothes into their arms.

Each retreated behind a bush of choice to change out of their filthy clothes before heading for the stream. Naruto had changed into a clean set of orange clothes; no surprise there, while she had been offered the choice between two sets of outfits, one orange and the other navy blue.

While her clothes desperately needed to be washed, she had been reluctant to part with them.

It was quite simple, what female in her right mind would cheerfully hand over her only set of clothing into the hands of the enemy, especially _male_ enemy?

The second insult to injury had been the loan of the Leaf ninja uniform she had been given. As disconcerting as that had been, it was the lesser of two evils considering what her other option had been.

At the time, when she picked the navy blue uniform Naruto gave her a sad puppy-dog look, but despite how he felt about it, there was no way she was going to pick the "Look-at-me-I-glow-in-the-dark" orange of the fox host. What kind of ninja would wear such a construction-cone color, especially in a forest?

And while she was on the subject, what reason could there possibly be for the Copy Ninja to deny her a belt? It didn't even have to be a _real_ belt, but Kakashi had only shaken his head when she had pointed out that all they had to do was cut off a piece of rope for her to use. Apparently that was an unnecessary use of their precious rope supply.

It had occurred to her that this might be a clever ruse on their part to keep her from escaping. Kakashi probably was expecting her to do just exactly that but dressing her in clothes too big? Damn but it was effective.

Right now both were out of the camp. He of the masked face was somewhere nearby doing who knew what while Naruto was off taking a bath in the large stream she had found in her first unsuccessful escape attempt. The blond teen would be a while since he was also washing the dirty laundry.

To keep the borrowed pants from sliding down the redhead had to keep a grip on the waistband at all times that soon presented a logistic problem. She only had one hand free with which to dry her hair.

Karin sat down on, what she had come to consider as _her_ log, to better work on drying her hair with one free hand. She quickly found that it was a pain switching hands back and forth to fluff the hair on all sides of her head. Not only that, but to her annoyance, her fingers kept getting stuck in the tangles and freeing them wasn't easy without use of her other hand.

Finally, giving up on the detangling as the impossible task that it was, Karin had a thought (more of a hope really) and began patting at the pockets of the borrowed pants. Maybe, just maybe silver spikes kept a…

There it was! Eureka! With a triumphant grin on her face, the redhead pulled a comb from the back pocket. Never before had she ever greeted a grooming tool with such joy, absently noting that it was curious shade of hot pink.

With a happy sigh, she began running the comb over her head…and hit the first tangle. There it stuck fast. Karin told herself to work slowly and patiently if she was going to get it loosened.

Slowly she labored at it, holding onto the comb with one hand while a working a finger here or there trying to loosen the hair enough to free the comb. Every once in a while she would forget and lift her other hand to help out. That's when the waist would droop and hang down around her hips forcing her to snatch them up while furtively glancing about to make sure no one had seen.

Thus began a long, involved process of combing, hitting a snarl of tangled mane, free the hand, drop the pants, snatch them up again, free the comb, all accompanied with the most colorful invective of a mind colored by experiences in the insane asylum known as Orochimaru's lair.

Suddenly her patience snapped. "Curse-spawned tangles from hell!"

Face red with frustration, the redhead drew back her arm about to hurl the comb in a fit of temper when a gloved hand wrapped around her slender wrist and held her arm immobile in a firm above her head.

Gently the Leaf jounin pried the comb out of her hand. It wasn't too difficult as her fingers had gone lax in surprise when his larger, more masculine one had enfolded around hers. Once he had freed the comb from her nerveless fingers and slid it into his pocket, Kakashi lifted the towel off Karin's shoulders.

"Huh?" Confused, she twisted her head back and forth trying to figure out what he was going to do.

"Comb's mine. I'd hate to lose it. Means a lot to me as I won it when I was a Genin." He said while gently rubbing the towel over her head.

"Why pink?" She said, and then sneered, "Who gives a plastic comb as a prize to a ninja, even a Genin?"

"What, think it should be a blue ribbon or a gold medal?"

"Value of effort should be rewarded by value of prize."

"Value is in the eye of the beholder. Besides I needed a new comb at the time and you have no idea what I did to win this."

"I don't want to know; it's probably a stupid story. What I can't figure out is why you would keep it."

"I assure you," he said easily, "it's only so it can be spotted easily should a sulky kunoichi happen to fling it into the underbrush. Besides, pink is a very manly color." Finishing with the toweling, he laid the tower across her shoulders and pulled the comb from his pocket.

"I _do not_ sulk!" She tried to cross her arms and realized it would cost her the precarious hold on the waistband. Abandoning that, she explained, in a lofty tone, "I meditate _physically_ , with enthusiasm."

"Hm, is that so? Okay, so maybe I'll give you that pink may not be considered manly exactly, but it doesn't detract from the fact that it is an easy color to find."

"Try orange."

"No thanks, if I get an orange one, Naruto will take a liking to it and claim it as his. So no, gonna stay with tried-and-true pink."

"You're weird. The metal color of your hair must be toxic. It's leached into your brain and poisoned it."

The Copy Ninja just shrugged and lifted the comb up to the one uncovered eye as if thoughtfully inspecting it. Then he lifted a strand of reddish hair made dark auburn by the water and began to manipulate the comb through the length, pulling it through the strands of damp hair

"Wh.. what are…." asked Karin in surprise and then suddenly didn't care. Her whole body relaxed. It was then she realized just how tightly coiled she had been for a very long time. Having one's hair combed was a pleasure that there were few words for and the tension slowly seeped from her body.

"So, I take it you don't like pink? What, too girly for you?"

This time it was her turn to shrug. Pink, orange, purple, _whatever_ color of comb, none of it really mattered as long as she was on the receiving end of this fan-bliss-tastic hair treatment.

"I'm color-blind; just keep doing what you're doing comb-boy." She ended that with a sigh of contentment.

"That would be comb-man to you, to be precise," murmured Kakashi, but he could tell she wasn't listening.

With care and light precision, Kakashi combed, taking note that the girl had calmed without a murmur of protest at having an enemy nin, touch her head.

For her part, Karin's secret pleasure in life was having this done for her; not that anyone she had ever worked with or for had ever discovered that little tidbit about her. If they had known, she'd have been the object of ridicule, the laughingstock of Orochimaru's organization.

Unknown to those who knew her, there were only two times she had let her red mane be touched by another person (outside of her mother that is) and those two times were when visiting a town on her own and she had gone to a salon. They had washed her hair, cut, styled, and then dried it. Then they had done her nails too but that hadn't lasted out the day.

As Kakashi stood behind Karin, he took note that the girl was practically melting from having her hair handled. Very delicately and gently, he worked the tines of the comb through snarls and knots, meticulously untangling each and every one without pulling or tugging much.

As he had walked into camp, he had watched her struggle and when she had moved her arm to hurl away his come, his body had moved without thought. Now he was musing over what had been a totally instinctive action. What had possessed him to catch her hand and then end up combing out the tangles for her?

He frowned in thought as long lean fingers worked swiftly, deftly, and with tender patience until finally the last tangle was unraveled and the soft hair was nearly dry.

He eyed the two unequal sides of her hair, one hanging smooth and straight on one side and the other spikey and choppy as if a demented child had gone at it with a pair of hedge clippers.

The smooth side was longer, hanging down her back, catching the sunlight to throw off glints of burnished red-gold. He had only seen that peculiar effect once before and that had been on Kushina Uzumaki. This girl had the exact same color and texture as Kushina's hair, only shorter. Definitely they were from the same clan, no arguing that, even if the last name itself wasn't a dead giveaway.

Finally he finished and from Karin's light sigh, she knew it too. Yet, one last time he lifted the comb and started at the crown of her head and lightly and leisurely drew back and down, lingering a moment before stepping to softly ask, "That better?"

"Hn," she intoned, sleepily, doing her best to hide the internal shiver that had flashed through her body as the last languid stroke went down the back of her head.

"You'll need a nap before lunch is ready. In fact, be prepared to use a lot of your awake-time sleeping in the next several days. There's no rush, we are going to be here for a while."

"And why is that, Kaka sensei?" Karin asked, staring at the glowing embers that had been allowed to die down after the lunch meal. _Use wake-time for sleeping?_ That sounded ridiculous and slightly ominous.

"Hey, I don't need to hear you call me that even if Naruto still does."

"Well, aren't you special. But you're right, I'm too tired to think straight, I'm gonna take you up on the nap business."

Smothering a yawn, the red-haired girl stood, wobbled over to her sleeping pad and flopped down on it. Not bothering to cover herself with the blanket, she removed her glasses, and put them next to the pillow before rolling on her side and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

"Sweet dreams princess," Kakashi whispered.

Another voice started in accusingly "Hey, what are you…"

"Shhhhh," shushed Kakashi, tilting his head to look over his shoulder at Naruto with a raised finger to his lips, and then with a nod of his head toward the sleeping girl, "Needs her beauty sleep." After a quick inner debate, he moved over Karin's sleeping mat and reached down to cover her with a light blanket before turning his attention back to Naruto.

"Ahh," said Naruto and then quietly moved to place the dry clothes in a pile on a log and arranging the wet ones on a line that had been strung up for this purpose. Then he sat and went through the dry ones, sorting and folding.

"What?" The blonde stopped what he was doing and looked up because he could feel the weight of the jounin's gaze on him.

With hands on hips, Kakashi shook his head woefully at the youth's efforts.

It was obvious that folding was not one of Naruto's ninja skills. He was grabbing pants and shirts and wadding them into a ball shape before tossing them in a pile. If left that way each item would end up being badly wrinkled.

With another shake of his head, Kakashi sat down next to his former student and held out his hand for whatever was at the top of the pile.

With an annoyed grunt, Naruto tossed the first item over to the older man. He watched with growing irritation as the elite ninja folded the article of clothing neatly and quickly and set it on the log to the side of him. Then he gestured for Naruto to toss him another one.

Seeing the hard stare of challenge coming from the teen, Kakashi chuckled, asking, "What? You think you can do any better?"

With a daring half-grin Naruto grabbed one up from the pile while tossing another to Kakashi. "You ready for this? If I beat you at folding, then you have to cook lunch for… Hey! Wait! I didn't say 'go' yet!"

Thus began the unofficial and unrecorded Fierce Ninja Battle of the Folded Clothes. No jutsu allowed.

* * *

"How do you know this Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked politely. She stood in front of Tsunade's paper-strewn desk, along with Shikamaru and Sai.

Both had been summoned to receive an update on Kakashi and Naruto's mission to retrieve the escaped prisoner. In the beginning none of them had paid much attention upon hearing the news of the escape. It was very rare for any of them to be assigned to prisoner retrieval missions as it didn't fall into their distinct skill sets. Usually.

Sakura frowned as she listened. Naruto involved in any mission, no matter how simple one may consider it to be, had a way of becoming complicated, quickly.

Even Shikamaru had straightened upon hearing the news. Sai had yet to truly learn how things could easily and often did, go sideways when Naruto was on the scene.

Speaking of Sai, he was looking, per usual as if he was trying to figure out what expression was called for at this meeting. And, as usual, he sported that slight smile that she had found so annoying when she had first met him.

Tsunade leaned back in her chair with a chortle, "Oh, our Kakashi has his ways, doesn't he?"

Sakura frowned. Shikamaru remained motionless and Sai smiled in that odd way of his that gave nothing away.

"So you say," the Nara genius finally responded in an indifferent voice, standing with arms crossed and a bored expression on his face.

Sakura would have turned her attention away except she happened to catch his gaze sliding over to the corner of his eye to look at her. Why was he looking at her? Did she have something on her face? Instinctively she raised a hand and wiped at her cheek.

Since he was still staring, her eyebrows lifted in question but he merely let a hint of a smile touch the edges of his lips before returning his attention back to the Hokage.

Sakura was puzzled.

As if discerning her thoughts, Sakura saw Shikamaru glance at her again to give her a hint of a knowing grin. What was up with him? Deciding to ignore him, she turned back to Tsunade.

Tsunade was watched the three as if waiting for one of them to speak. She knew from experience that Sai rarely asked and if he did, he wasn't what she wanted to know. Shikamaru also rarely asked but that was because he usually had everything figured out at the beginning. Sakura, however, decided to fill in the silence herself instead of waiting on either one of them to do it.

"Fine then Shishou. What do you want the four of us to do?"

Even though Ino wasn't with them, Tsunade had told them before starting that she had chosen four of them for this mission. The odd thing was that she wasn't giving them any details. She merely said that she would leave everything in Kakashi's capable hands.

 _What the hell?_ Sakura lowered her head to puzzle this over. Also, why did the four of them have to go and join up Kakashi and Naruto to bring back one prisoner?

Normally, if she was being sent out to meet a team it meant someone was sick or wounded enough to need medical assistance in returning.

"Go and join up to assist in any way that you are asked to," added Tsunade, tilting her head back as if to get a better view of the ceiling. She waved a hand, "You have your orders, go gather whatever you need, then pick up the supplies that are already for you and then be off with you."

The pink-haired medic huffed out an irritated breath. How vague could one get about the mission?

Sakura grimaced and spun on her heel. When she realized Shikamaru wasn't following, she looked back to see him staring down at the Hokage with those black, unreadable eyes. Sai was staring back and forth between the two of them as if fascinated.

"I know what this is about but what I want to know is one thing. Is that archaic order of clan survival going to be pulled out of mothballs?" he asked. He paused and then added, "I don't want to be part of this."

Sakura noted a tension in his voice and wondered at it.

"Noted," Tsunade replied tersely. Her hard eyes meeting and holding Shikamaru's until he finally dropped his gaze.

Sai, who was next to Sakura, leaned in to ask in a whisper, "I don't understand what just happened, do you?"

"Not a clue," responded Sakura. Both snapped their mouths shut when two sets of sharp looks stabbed in their direction.

Sakura was mystified by the subtle undercurrent going on between the two that she, frustratingly, wasn't privy to. She wondered if this is what Sai felt like all the time.

As the three were about to exit, Sai asked, "This is about that prisoner isn't it?"

"More like what she is and where from and what they want to do with her."

"Then why are we involved?"

"Sai!" Sakura hissed, as she exited the door first.

Shikamaru pulled up the rear and shut the door behind him.

"What? It's a valid question," Sai said,

wondering why she was getting upset, this time.

"It is Sakura," said Shikamaru, ignoring Sai's question. "I don't know why the rest of you were chosen but I know why I was. I'll tell you about it after we collect Ino and are on our way."

Sakura sighed. She knew it was useless to press the genius any more. He wouldn't divulge anything until he was good and ready.

* * *

A glorious smell filled her nostrils, beckoning her from sleep with its beguiling aroma. Karin Uzumaki returned to consciousness with a cough and her eyes slowly fluttered open.

It took a moment for awareness to also return. Where was she? Oh, yes, memory came back in a flood and she slowly sat up on her pad.

She blinked and then yawned. After rubbing her eyes, she focused on the fuzzy blobs on the other side of the campfire were obviously Naruto and Kakashi.

Patting around, she found her glasses and slid them on. Everything around the area leaped into sharp definition.

Once she could make out her surroundings, she noticed the neatly folded pile of clothes by Kakashi and the not-quite-so-neat one next to Naruto. The blonde was scowling and darting sullen glances at his former sensei that she couldn't interpret. Focusing her attention on the other ninja, she was puzzled to see the visible eye crinkled in amusement.

"Did I miss something?" She asked.

"HE CHEATED!"

"You're just jealous because fabric bends to my will."

Naruto added crossed arms and muttered, "It was unnatural, that's all I'm saying."

"It's a talent, almost a gift you could say."

"Unnatural," Naruto muttered again under his breath.

Karin stared at the both of them, blinked, and then decided that she didn't _even_ want to know.

* * *

~Dwellin


End file.
